The blood of the ancients
by Hezza62
Summary: The bridges between worlds are fading. A mortal must be chosen to repair them, & be infused with the blood of the ancients. That mortal must be protected. Set Post Angel. Reintroduces Sam Lawson, character from ssn 5 who appeared then died in same episode
1. The vessel

**AN: This is Hezza. I know I haven't finished Blade Sire's Return, yet, but this one has been in me for more than a year, I just had to get it typed up. My friend BeraMoon inspired me to write this because of her fic, Stuck in the Past. **

**Like most of my stories, this one started with a dream. I might include that dream once I'm finished (final chapter), if you're interested, but you won't have to read it for the story to make sense. **

**Just Enjoy, and, as always, please give me suggestions on the story if I get stuck.**

**Disclaimer:** …. Does anybody ever own any of their fics? I mean, that's the whole point, it's FAN FICTION! As in: based on somebody else's work! … Just a thought … … …

… … … In case you didn't get it, I DON'T own ANGEL or affiliated characters. Joss Whedon rocks!

Contains: Violence, Supernatural themes (Duh)

Later chapters may also contain coarse language and sexual themes.

I might pair Lawson and Cordy up for this one. (I NEVER went for the Angel/Cordy relationship, and not really the Connor/Cordy one either. I think Doyle would have made a nice match for her though.)

Note: By the way, I had to make Cordy the exposition character, sorry. It won't sound much like her when she's doing it (I'm still working on my dialogue skills), but as the Seer she's got to explain everything.

Hope you like it nevertheless, Hezza.

Chapter 1

"She who has been infused with the blood of the ancients and was made a vessel of the primordial essence of life, will have the power to grant life to the walking dead, and strength to the living. Blood is the life flow." The man who spoke was barely more than a mist and a memory; his body long since destroyed. His sister stood beside him, staring into the pool of time. "That which is real may be blurred, altered, and made anew. Distance will pose no challenge to her. Alternate paths and existences can be revealed and made to co-exist and to influence each other."

The atmosphere seemed to be changing, shifting from murky grey to clouded mist, to clear but humid air and back again, rendering the spirits visible one moment and obscured the next. The temperature kept shifting too, from chilly to uncomfortably warm, but there were no mortals around to complain. It had not always been so, not when the spirits inhabited physical bodies. The place was falling into disorder. The vessel would be needed.

More pools appeared beside the first, shimmering and opaque, swirling and flowing into a reality. Drops from the first pool leaked into the others, and the ripples spread. "She is the door, the key, the way," he continued, "She is the spirit, and also the hand that will forge the path, the gateway. She will be the protector, the keeper of balance between realms, the guardian of all realities."

"This will come in time." His sister spoke, and the first pool rippled. "But at the beginning of her journey, she is unprepared, unprotected, barely more than a mortal. She will need guardians. Protectors. Champions. Brother, let us warp time, that she may ensure her own survival by saving her champions, that they may in turn save her younger self."

"Who are the champions?"

"The noblest walking dead, those with souls."

"There were three." The man said. "Two with full souls; one by choice and one cursed. The third was made by the cursed vampire, half-souled, and destroyed by his sire."

"Three there shall be again." The sister told him. "Send her back to the half-souled vampire, to mend his soul and pull him forward to save the other two. Then she shall give them a gift, the means to save her life."

"Yes. The body must live if her spirit is to make use of the Gift, the blood of the ancients."

"She must also have a guide." The sister said. "We shall not be able to speak with her until she transcends."

"Let her have the Seer."

"It shall be done."


	2. Recruits

Disclaimer: Think of a cool one, tell them I said it, ok?

Chapter 2

Sam Lawson stood outside of Angel's half-destroyed office in Wolfram & Hart, a stake in his hands. It was being pointed toward his own heart by Angel. Lawson looked at the stake and back at Angel, a mocking smile forming on his face.

"Come on chief," Lawson said to his sire, "give me a reason."

The Powers that Be interfered.

Angel was given the memory of stabbing Lawson through the heart, killing him. Angel saw the ashes float to the ground. He could not see the light, or the hands that pulled Lawson away from him. A woman, too bright to see, had hold of the half-souled vampire. She was the future self of the girl they would one day protect. Lawson was invisible to everyone else as he was pulled away from the timeline, away from the ripples in the pool of life. He was frozen in time, and couldn't speak or move.

She took him to the realm between realms, where the pools connected, where gateways could be made. A place of light and chance, where gods once interfered with the lives of mortals. She was not supposed to be there yet, and she could not stay for long. She ignored the uncomfortable atmosphere; it would not hinder her.

She could see Lawson's half soul, caught within his heart, fragments of the soul occasionally passing through the lifeless veins. She laid her hand over Lawson's heart and let Life flow from her to him, nudging and nurturing his soul, making it whole. The soul pulsed within his heart, and grew, spreading through his body like a liquid inferno; a golden thing that glowed and shimmered.

As his soul spread, he started to move again. She had to work fast, as he was not supposed to be there either. She took him by the hand and felt his fingers close around hers. "I need your help," she said to him, though she hadn't actually spoken. She felt his confusion, and then his trust. He would help her. She made the ripples hold still as she drew them both back into a different part of the pool. Two more to save.

In an alleyway behind the Hyperion Hotel, a legion of Hell-spawned beasts was advancing toward Angel, Spike, Gunn and Illyria. The rain was pouring down; the heavens were weeping as Hell declared war.

Wesley was dead, and Lindsey had been shot by Lorne, who wasn't coming back to rejoin the others, and he'd asked not to be found. Connor was home with his foster parents, after helping his father kill Hamilton, who had been Wolfram and Hart's link to the mortal plane. To kill him, Angel had fed from him, ingesting some of the blood of the ancients, but only those ancients who had been loyal to evil.

"Supposed to wear that red stuff on the inside, Charlie boy." Spike said, after seeing Gunn's wounds. Gunn looked down and felt his stomach, then looked up.

"Any word on Wes?" he asked.

Spike shook his head. Illyria jumped down from a roof to join them. She stood up straight, with her head bowed. "Wesley's dead." Angel looked at her with disbelief, and the others bowed their heads. Illyria looked confused and upset. "I'm feeling grief for him," Illyria continued, "I can't seem to control it. I wish to do more violence." She declared.

The crowd approaching them was yelling and roaring. "Well," Spike said, "wishes just happen to be horses today, among other things."

The demons broke through the gates. Angel looked up to see a dragon in the sky, shrieking as it hovered and swooped.

"Okay," Gunn said, "you take the 30, 000 on the left…"

"You're fading," Illyria interrupted, "You'll last ten minutes at best."

"Then let's make 'em memorable." Gunn said, getting to his feet. They all stepped forward to make their stand.

"Any terms of a plan?" Spike asked.

"We fight," Angel replied simply.

"Bit more specific?" Spike pressed.

"Well personally," Angel said, looking up, "I kind of want to slay the dragon." The demons broke into a run. Angel raised his axe. "Let's go to work."

The Powers that Be interfered again. Time stopped. The rain itself stopped falling and everything froze in place. The woman carried Lawson into the reality, into the alleyway. She set him down on the ground, let go of his hand, and stepped away, toward the heroes. She dimmed the light surrounding her so that she could be seen properly.

Lawson saw a woman, early thirties, auburn-haired, her hair hanging down over her shoulders. She was blue-eyed, and he was taller than her by about an inch. She was slim, and good-looking. She was wearing jeans of all things, and a green sweater and white sneakers. He'd kind of been expecting a white dress and a halo, and maybe wings too. She was not, however, an angel.

He looked over at the heroes and recognised them all. "Angel and Spike! And I nearly killed the other two. The girl looks different though. Can they hear us?"

"No. And that's a demon in her body," the woman explained. "The girl is already dead, but the demon is fighting on our side."

"Why are we here?" Lawson asked her.

"I need the help of the other two vampires as well. The ones with souls. 'Something to do with a triangle of protection. This is several weeks after Angel thinks he staked you. Now he is fighting against the powers of darkness themselves. We are here to make sure he and Spike survive this battle. If possible, I would like to save the other two as well, because they are also trying to do good for this world."

Lawson looked over at the mass of demons, frozen in time.

"Release the heroes slowly," the woman appeared to be speaking into the empty air. "I want to talk to them before we enter the fight."

Angel had his arm raised to strike the demon in front of him. His arm slowly lowered, and the others started moving forward too. They all stopped still as they noticed what was happening to them. They saw the frozen demons, the motionless rain, and looked around in confusion while they regained the use of their limbs. One by one, they saw the pair standing behind them. The woman was unknown to them, but they recognised the vampire they thought was dead.

"Hi," the woman said to them. "My name is Erica. I'm here to help you."

"Why?" Angel asked.

"Because I need your help."

"If you did all this, why would you need our help?" Spike asked.

"I didn't do this. The Powers that Be granted me this opportunity to be here, to help you win this fight. I'm here to save you because I need you to save me."

"What are you talking about?" Gunn asked.

"She smells of power," Illyria said quietly to the others.

The woman walked toward them, "I'll explain in a minute. You're not going to last much longer, though," she said to Gunn as she put a hand on his shoulder to steady him. She put her other hand up in front of his wound and drew Life from within her to heal him. The wound knitted together to reveal smooth unmarked skin, and Gunn stood up straighter as the pain left him. The others glanced from him back to Erica with some amazement and suspicion.

"I'm not supposed to be here, so I'm not allowed to do much. They don't want me to accidentally screw up the timeline." Erica said, turning back toward the others. "I can heal, and I can fight as a mortal. It is important that this battle take place, between evil and the champions, so I can't remove you from it, like I took Sam away from his place of death."

"Yeah, how…" Angel started asking; his finger raised toward Lawson.

"The Powers that Be intervened, and they let me repair his soul and bring him here."

"How can we save you?" Spike asked.

"I'm at the end of my journey as a mortal. I need you there to protect me nearer the beginning of it. The Powers that Be warped time so that I could come back and help you, and give you a choice. At this point in time, in this reality, I'm still years away from being the woman you see before you. I'll be little more than a teenager, and fairly helpless. I won't recognise you, or even be aware of the world beneath the mortal one. I'll become a pawn of others, who could do great damage with me if you let it happen. I'm asking you to save my life. The Powers that Be chose the three souled vampires to be my protectors, and they chose the Seer to be my guide, but I don't want to force you to help me. I want to give you the choice to do so. But know that I won't grow up into the woman I am today without you."

"Cordy?" Angel asked. "She'll be back?"

"Almost," Erica said. "She won't remember anything past high school, except for the kiss and the man that made her what she is. She'll know who you are, Angel, because she knew you before LA, but she won't remember what you two had." She paused for a moment. "No matter what your decision is I'll help you here, but I wouldn't be asking you, and the Powers that Be wouldn't ask you, if this wasn't important."

"What about us?" Gunn asked, gesturing to himself and Illyria.

"After this fight you get to live your lives, and you can do whatever you want with them." Erica told him.

"Then let's destroy them and be done with it." Illyria said, looking back at the demons.

"Then get ready, because time is about to be put back into place." Erica said. She now, inexplicably, had a long sword in her hand, shining silvery despite the dim light. It looked heavy, but she held it easily. She pushed the sleeves of her sweater back above her elbows, ready to go to work. An axe appeared on the ground for Lawson, and he picked it up and settled it into his hands. The group looked back at the demons.

"Stand back a few paces," Erica told them. "We're not supposed to engage until time is flowing normally."

The rain slowly started falling again. The others stood back as the demons started moving. "Now!" Erica yelled, as time returned to normal.

Angel struck down the demon in front of him, splitting it in half. Illyria had no weapon but her own body, and she used it to tear apart any demon that got close enough. Spike and Gunn worked together to kill any demons near them. Lawson backed them up, and Erica fought her way to the front. She was very good with the sword, cleanly cutting demons to pieces quickly and efficiently. Together, the team made the demon bodies pile up. As the dragon swooped low to the ground Angel jumped for it's back and hacked off its head as it was rising rapidly through the air. As he then dropped through the air he jumped off the beast toward the giant Cyclops and blinded it with his axe. He was flung into a building as the Cyclops thrashed about, trampling many of his own allies.

There were hundreds of demons running through the street toward them, and yet the heroes fought on. Angel recovered from his fall and rejoined the fight. Eventually, a little over an hour later, the tide of demons ebbed.

Gunn sank against the wall, exhausted. The others stood over the demons they'd just killed, looking up as the rain eased. "The sun 'll be coming up soon." Spike said.

"Don't worry about that," Erica said. She'd gotten a few cuts from the fight, but they were already healing. The sword had disappeared again. "Spike, Angel, now is the time for your answer. Will you help me?"

The two glanced at each other. Spike looked back at Erica first. "Why not, luv? I'll help you." He glanced back at Angel with a grin. "Just wanted to beat you at volunteering to do something noble."

"This is serious, Spike." Erica said, holding his gaze. "Do you mean it? Do you truly want to become my Champion?"

"Yeah," Spike nodded, the grin gone. "I'll do it."

Erica looked hopefully back at Angel, who'd been staring doubtfully at Lawson. He looked back at her.

"The Powers that Be really sent you?" Angel asked.

"Yeah," Erica said. "They picked me, when I was just a girl, to become some great hero or something. A vessel of power, they said. I didn't really have a choice, but… looking back on things, I don't regret it. You guys helped me do a lot of good … but then again, that hasn't actually happened yet. "

Angel was silent for a moment. Slowly, he nodded his assent. Erica held out her hands for them. Lawson stood behind her. He had already received the gift she was about to give them. Gunn and Illyria stood quietly, watching.

"I can give you one gift before I go." Erica told them. "I can give healing to the living, and life to the walking dead. I suppose the Shanshu prophecy mentioned something about this, but after I'm done with you, you'll still be more than human."

"Why didn't you say something about this before?" Spike asked as he took her hand.

"I didn't want to bribe you into helping me." Erica explained. "I wanted you to do it because you chose to."

"I can't take it," Angel said. "I signed away my chance for humanity."

"Sure you did," Erica said, "but that only means you prevented the certainty of your fate. Your future is no longer written in stone, or to be more accurate, on a scroll. It's your choice now." She held out her free hand for him. "So make it," she said in a whisper, her eyes fixed on his face.

Angel took her other hand, and both of the vampires started feeling light-headed. Where she touched their skin, they tingled pleasantly. They felt warm, refreshed, and alive. They could feel the Life power within her flowing into them, coating, strengthening and protecting every one of their cells as it was passed through their bloodstreams.

"You'll be immune to crosses, garlic, holy water, the lot." Erica explained with her eyes closed. "You'll be able to walk in the sunlight. A stake through the heart or decapitation will still kill you, as it would anything else, but you'll leave a body behind. Despite this, you'll still be immortal. You won't have to breathe. Being stabbed or shot won't kill you, and you'll still be strong, fast, still have superior sight, hearing and smell, and you'll still be able to wear your other faces. You can take blood, but you won't need it. Angel," she continued, opening her eyes, "you are no longer cursed. That soul is yours. You can corrupt it just like any soul-owning human can, but you'll never lose it. It is the same for you two as well."

"So what are we waiting for?" Spike exclaimed, a gentle feeling of new strength flowing through his veins. "Let's go. 'Save your younger self, right?"

"Yeah." Erica said, letting go of their hands. She looked a little sad. "She's at school, and right now she has no idea of what she'll one day be capable of. If I recall correctly, I was afraid, even of you guys at first. This is not going to be some boring babysitting job. Things will be drawn to her, and she'll be drawn to trouble. The day you'll meet her -- that'll be today, I guess, she'll already be in trouble." She said this with a wistful smile. "The last thing I can do here is send you to her. You'll meet Cordy there too; she'll know why she's there. Once you find us, you can bring us back here." Erica's tone was quietly reassuring. The three didn't say anything; they just looked at her expectantly.

Gunn and Illyria were silent, standing apart from them. They knew they were not a part of this.

"So, if you're ready," Erica said slowly, looking at each of the three in turn, "I'll see you guys later, I guess." She brightened, and the others covered their eyes. When they could see, she was gone. The three vampires felt strange again, as they were pulled from one part of the pool of life, and lowered carefully into another.

Gunn and Illyria were left standing alone in an alleyway littered with bodies, the atmosphere lightening as the sunlight emerged through the darkness.


	3. The search

_FYI: I don't write disclaimers for every chapter. I'm stingy. Refer to first two chapters, coz they apply to the whole thing. Oh, and this school is based on an actual school in Adelaide. See if you can pick it, hee hee. (It's not St Mary's)_

Even after the brightness faded, the three men squinted, their hands before their eyes. It was daytime, and they were outside. Silently, they took a moment to comprehend this, breathing in the springtime air. One by one, they looked around. They were standing on a grassed area near some brick two-story buildings with blue-painted rooves. There were benches and trees on the grass, and a rose garden at the farthest corner. They were near a path leading from a green barred gate through between two of the buildings. The path also branched off to go down a wheelchair ramp, next to the two-story building on the left. The green fence went right around the school. Next door to the property was the car park of a centre-link building, and the school appeared to be located on a main road, evidenced by the constant rush of cars. On the concrete path was a sign.

"Welcome past, present and future students, to Saint Mary's College Open Day. Tours start in the office." Spike read out. "This isn't one of those Catholic all-girl schools is it?" he asked, grinning.

"Could be." Angel replied, giving him a disapproving glance before looking toward the doors of what he guessed was the main office.

"So what now, chief?" Lawson asked Angel. Angel gave him an unreadable expression before glancing back toward the other buildings. He was still reserving his judgement about this literally born-again vampire he barely knew.

"We find Erica." He said simply.

"How?" Spike asked, "She didn't give us a last name, or say what year she's supposed to be in. Just that she was here. She'd be younger too, so we might not even recognise her, and she's not gonna know who we are."

"We don't look very friendly, either," Lawson added. Their clothes were scruffy and bloody from the fight, and Angel and Spike were still carrying their weapons.

"There's gonna be trouble," Angel said, "that's how we'll find her. We'll split up. Look for Cordelia too, she'll probably know who Erica is."

"I've never met her," Lawson protested.

"Medium height, brunette, pretty." Angel explained. "I really doubt she'll be wearing a uniform, and she'd know us."

"Right." Spike said. "I think I'll go take a tour of the place." He threw his weapon onto the roof of the building, just as two uniformed girls walked around the side of it, followed by a man in a suit and a young plain-clothed girl who was likely his daughter. They looked up at the sound of the bang, but hadn't seen the weapon. They gave the trio an apprehensive look before continuing into the office. Angel had hidden his axe behind his back, and Lawson's had disappeared at the end of the fight, so luckily the humans hadn't seen anything more suspicious than scruffy-looking men.

The girls had worn blue blazers and socks, a blue, red and yellow plaid skirt, a white shirt, a red tie and black lace-up shoes. Spike looked cheered at the thought of a whole building full of 'innocent', Catholic school-girls. Angel gave him another disapproving look as Spike followed the humans into the office, using a handkerchief to clean up his face as he walked. At least Spike had a decent soul, so he wasn't going to act on his predatory impulses.

When the front garden was empty again, Angel had followed Spike's lead and thrown his axe up onto the roof, then walked down the path toward the other building, and Lawson followed him. As they passed the office, they saw another grassed area, and two more buildings. On the glass double-doors on the building ahead of them was a sign that said "Hall – Extra-curricular displays". To the left was a walkway into a courtyard, and to the right were some steps leading up toward a one-story building that said "Music Suite", which was to the right of the Hall. Ahead of that building was another car park, and the school boundary. This was on the other side of the office.

They could hear conversation within the hall and the music suite, and there were people in the building on the left too. Angel looked over at Lawson. "You go that way," he said, pointing through the walkway toward the courtyard. "I'll take these two." He pointed toward the hall and the music rooms.

"Right," Lawson replied, walking away.

Spike found himself at the front desk of the office, behind which one grey-haired woman sat at a computer, another was speaking on the phone. He'd first stood in the entrance room, looking up at the class formal photos. He saw Erica, but her last name wasn't listed, and neither was her class.

The woman on the phone gave him a confused look when he gave his best charming smile. Behind the desks he could see filing cabinets and a photocopier. Off to his left were the staff rooms and teacher offices. The woman on the computer turned around, looked at Spike through her wire-rimmed glasses and asked, "Yes?"

"Oh," Spike said, "the, uh, the sign said that there were tours in here."

"Yes, but at the moment all the girls are already out. Are you just looking, or do you have a family member who is interested in attending?"

"Well," Spike said, thinking quickly, "my niece is thinking of coming here, as it was recommended by my neighbour, a girl named Erica. I suppose you'd know her, she's about this tall," he held his hand up about shoulder-height, "she's got kinda dark reddish-brown hair, and blue eyes? She said she'd be here today, do you know where she is?"

"There are no Erica's going to school this year," the receptionist said. "But I think I know who you're talking about. She's one of the past students who volunteered to help out today. You'll either find her in the hall or the year nine corridors. It's an open day today, so if you'd like to go and find her, you don't need to have a guide; visitors are quite welcome to wander around."

"Thank you very much," Spike said politely, nodding his head to the woman and walking back the way he had come.

888

In one of the year nine classrooms sat a group of past-students with a favourite English teacher, who had left the school herself since their year, and returned for the open day. All the chairs were being used in the hall, so they were sitting on the carpet, talking about the time they'd spent at Saint Mary's. The topic had turned to weird things they'd experienced.

"I heard that the ghost of one of the nuns still hangs around the chapel." A blond girl with ringlets and a red sleeveless top said.

"Yeah?" a girl in jeans and a black tank top said. She wore a blue, unbuttoned half-sleeve shirt over the top of her tank top. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, and, though looking younger and a little shorter, she was unmistakably Erica. "A friend of mine," she continued, "who's in year twelve now, she saw something at the end of this corridor that wasn't there when she looked again, and she felt all tired and weak, like she was stuck to the floor or something had grabbed her legs."

There were four other girls with them. One was a slightly chubby and energetic Lebanese girl, Lora, with long black hair that reached the floor when she sat down. There was a strawberry-blonde haired girl, Sara, sitting next to the other blonde, Rachel. There was a short Greek girl, Kara, with short mousy brown hair and a tall, thin Italian girl, Cassie, next to her with dark brown, almost black hair tied up in a ponytail. The teacher, Miss Ellen Pritchard, was short, had short dark hair and an infectious smile. "Didn't you say once that something pushed you off the stairs, too?" Kara asked Erica.

"Yeah," Erica replied, "that was in year nine. I was only a metre off the ground, and I was leaning against the railing. I could have sworn I felt something slowly but strongly push on my shoulders until I'd been tipped over onto the floor."

"Yeah," Sara said, "I remember that. I had to help you back to your feet while you were asking who pushed you. There wasn't anyone in front of or behind you, and you went white when I told you that."

"Well that's when I thought it was a ghost," Erica said with one eyebrow raised dismissively, "later I just figured that I'd been off balance without realising it or something stupid like that." She shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

Miss Pritchard stretched her arms and then looked at her watch. "Well, it's about time we got back to set up the drama stage."

The girls jokingly grumbled about it but got to their feet. Miss Pritchard led the way out while a couple of the girls stretched before moving. Kara turned to Erica and asked, "Whereabouts did you say you fell over?"

"Oh god," Erica joked, rolling her eyes, "My klutziness is gonna become a tourist attraction now, huh?"

"No," Kara said, "I just wondered, because when I came up those stairs just out there today, I could feel the hair on the back of my neck just stick up and I got a shiver right through me."

"Yeah it was those stairs." Erica said, "Come on, I'll show you exactly where it was."

"I'm coming too," Lora said. "I love that spooky crap."


	4. New trouble, Old players

Before the short, tunnel-like walkway opened out into the courtyard, there was a door on the left and a two doors on the right. The first door on the right was the ladies' toilets, and the second door was the student kitchen. There were only two girls in the kitchen, neither of them were Erica. Lawson had taken a quick look into the courtyard and seen several families talking to teachers, but he couldn't see Erica there either. All of the second-floor classrooms and corridors formed a square around the courtyard. There were outside stairs ahead of him, and indoor stairs in two other corners of the building. There was another tunnel-like walkway to the right, but a sign in front of that said, "This way to the year 12 courtyard and the hall." He figured that Angel would cover that area, so he took the door to his left.

He found himself in a blue-tiled stairwell leading up and back over his head. There was a stairwell in each corner of the building. He could see up on the landing that the wall had a mural of a flying girl on it. He went up and almost had a girl collide with him, but he didn't let her fall over. She wore a light grey, sleeveless dress with her dark brown hair tied back in a loose bun. She was too young to be a teacher, and she wasn't a student, at least not a current one.

She grabbed his arms, a surprised look on her face. "Oh, oh," she said excitedly, "you're Lawson, right?" She looked sure that she was right; staring into his eyes as though his name was written on them.

She wasn't Erica, so Lawson figured that she must be the other girl they were looking for. "Cordelia?"

"Exactly," she said, letting go of him now that she had her balance. "I'm supposed to help you find Erica."

"Yeah, do you know what grade she's in?" Lawson asked.

"Oh, she doesn't go here anymore," Cordelia answered as though it was obvious, "she graduated the year before last, so she's not going to be in uniform. I know what she looks like though, I've been looking for her."

"Where have you looked?" Lawson asked.

Cordelia pointed off to Lawson's right. "All of the year ten rooms, the year eleven rooms, the sewing room and the computer rooms. Everything in that direction, on this floor."

Lawson looked to his left, where there was another row of classrooms and a line of lockers against the wall. "Then we should look this way now," he said, jerking his thumb in that direction.

Cordelia nodded. "Where are the others?"

"Angel's in the hall, and Spike is probably getting kicked out of the office."

"I heard he's got a soul now," Cordelia said, as they started walking off to the left.

"As far as I know; before last night I hadn't seen him for about fifty years." Lawson replied, looking into the first classroom. It was a geography display, and only two families were inside. The mother of one family was talking to the male teacher. "What is that accent?" he quietly asked Cordelia. They were speaking English, but it didn't sound American.

"Australian." Cordelia replied with a grin, walking past another set of toilets toward the next classroom.

'I thought her accent was weird,' Lawson thought of Erica's voice. He hadn't picked up on it before; she was an Aussie. Maybe that's what she'd meant about taking her and Cordelia 'back here'; out of Australia and back to America.

A girl's scream ripped him from his thoughts. He and Cordelia ran forward. The screaming was coming from the very end of the corridor and to the right, around a corner.

"Up the stairs, go!" he could hear from another girl -- he thought it was Erica's voice -- as he reached the bend. He could hear other people coming out of the classrooms to investigate the noise. The stairwell was on the other side of the wall he was running past, but a window in the wall above the stairwell showed him two girls pulling a third up the steps between them, the shorter girl's arms over their shoulders, and a huge bloody gash on her right calf.

He passed the corner and went around the railing to the steps as the girls pulled themselves up to the second floor. Erica was the one on the left, using the railing to pull herself and Kara up the stairs. Lora was on Kara's other side, helping to support her weight. Kara did what she could to make it easier for them by hopping on her uninjured leg. All three were white-faced with fear, though Lora and Kara weren't screaming anymore. Kara whimpered with the pain as she held her hurt leg above her other ankle, and her face was tear-streaked. The other two frantically helped her up the stairs, gasping in panic, and gripping her arms so hard their knuckles were white.

Behind them, groping its way up the stairs, its belly scraping the olive-green tiles, was a dead rotted thing, devoid of a face and with blood on its mangled hands where pointed bone protruded through the fingertips. As it crawled it tried to suck the blood into its face, but without a tongue or eyes to see with it could only smear it into the dirt-smeared cavity where the nose and mouth had once been.

In the blue carpet on the first floor was a great big hole, where another thing was clawing its way out from underground. It was bone-white and rotted like the first, with mould growing on its body. Save for the deterioration that time had wrought on it, its head was still intact. It snarled as the girls went out of reach, and jerkily pulled itself to its feet.

Though the first one couldn't see, it was still attracted to the warmth of living flesh, and it reached out to where the girls had been moments before. Lawson saw all of this in a second as he grabbed for Lora's free hand to help them up the last couple of steps. Cordelia caught up to him and called the girls over to her.

When they were out of the way Lawson went down the steps and kicked at the head of the first zombie, shattering the brittle skull and effectively stopping it. The body flopped back down onto the steps. The second one was better preserved, seemed to be more aware of his surroundings, and was more intelligent than the first. Though its body was old, reanimation had made it unnaturally strong.

It picked up its fallen companion and threw it at Lawson. As he raised his arms to block the body it ran at him, barrelling into him and grabbing him around the midsection to knock him over. It bit at Lawson's side and succeeded in sinking its teeth into his flesh, making him cry out in pain. Lawson used both hands to hammer down on its head. It jerked back and pushed him away, looked up toward the girls, and started going up the stairs, walking over the top of Lawson without giving him any further consideration.

Lawson grabbed at its legs and tripped it up, while Cordelia, Lora and Erica tried to do something about Kara's leg. Spike arrived on the scene, coming from the same way that Lawson and Cordelia had. In a glance he assessed the situation and picked up Kara, carrying her into the room that the girls had only just left. "Stay here," he told them as he shut the door, before going to help Lawson.

"There are more popping up all over the ground," he told Lawson as he swung the corpse over the railing by its legs. It was only a short drop, and it got to its feet again. Yet another one was crawling out of the hole made by the other two.

"We've got to get the girl out of here," Lawson said, as they backed up the stairs. He was holding a hand to his bloody side.

"We can't just leave everyone else here to fend for themselves," Spike protested.

At the end of the corridor ahead of them were another set of stairs. In that direction they could hear someone yelling out, "Spike, Lawson, where are you?"

"Up here!" they replied, and were joined shortly by Angel, whose clothes were slightly grimier and torn than before. He had retrieved his axe from the roof, and now held it at his side.

"Both Erica and Cordelia are in there, plus two others," Lawson told him, keeping an eye on the cautiously approaching zombies from the stairwell.

"One's injured," Spike added.

"These things are all over the school," Angel reported, as he hacked off the heads of the two approaching zombies.

"What caused this?" Lawson asked.

"Let's ask the 'Seer'," Spike said, jerking a thumb at the door.

Angel gave him a curt nod, and handed the axe to him. "Guard the door," he ordered. He opened the door, and a vase, complete with flowers, flew at his head. He put his arm up to block it as he heard Cordelia belatedly say 'Wait!'.

Ignoring the misdirected missile, he stared at Cordelia. She looked just as she had in those first few months when she'd come to LA. Lawson came through the door and shut it behind him.

Erica was the culprit who had thrown the vase, and as it had left her hand she had straightaway turned around to pick up a metre-ruler at the blackboard. She was holding it in her hand and staring at the two men with apprehension and distrust. She was now wearing only the black tank top, as her shirt had been donated to Kara's leg to slow the bleeding.

"Oh my God!" Lora exclaimed, and pointed at Lawson's side. The wound was deep, but not fatal, especially for a vampire, who wouldn't bleed much. Lora was standing behind the teacher's desk, at the point furthest away from the door.

"They're here to help us," Cordelia explained, also looking at Lawson's wound with a grimace on her face.

"I'm Angel," Angel said, taking a step forward, "this is Lawson and the guy outside is Spike. You're Erica, aren't you?" he asked.

"Maybe," she said with a frown, raising the ruler up to chest height. She had caught a glimpse of the man with the axe outside, and with everything she'd already seen she didn't know what to think about these supposed helpers, especially when they already knew who she was.

"We're here to get you out of here," Lawson said, walking forward with a slight limp.

In the corner of the room was a miniature altar, made out of a low table, several coloured silk sheets, prayer books, candles, a picture of Mary and a framed poem about Jesus. Erica dropped the ruler and ripped a gold coloured sheet out from under everything else, scattering all of the items on the floor. She seemed to have immediately forgotten her mistrust upon seeing that someone needed help. "Coat off, arms up," she ordered sternly.

"Uh, Erica," Cordelia said, as the girl strode up to Lawson. "You don't need to do that, he's a vampire."

Erica stopped abruptly, and said, "What? The creeps outside notwithstanding, that's not possible, unless the stories I heard are wrong and vampires can survive sunlight." She gestured with the sheet in her hands toward the open windows.

"Well, these ones can," Cordelia said with a shrug. "But just trust me, ok? They're here to help."

"I changed my mind," Lora spoke up. Kara, who was sitting on the teacher's desk next to her, looked at her questioningly, her expression a bit dazed. "I don't like that spooky crap any more." Lora explained.

Erica put a hand to her forehead as though she had a headache, but she was really just trying to deal with the situation. She let the sheet drop to the ground and said, "Look, I don't care what you are, just get us out of here please."

They heard a bang outside as something hit the door.

Angel turned to Cordelia. "What's causing this?"

"A witch," she answered. "Apparently she was one of the nuns here, or at least pretending to be one, then she got too ambitious with her hell-raising, and got trapped below ground for a century or two."

"So what's with the zombies," Lawson asked, "and why now?"

"Hey, I don't know everything, ok?" Cordelia protested with her hands up in front of her in surrender. "I got enough of a migraine from the vision that told me what I know. I think my head would have exploded if I'd been shown anything else. My best guess is she raised them to go where she couldn't. I do know that if we stop her we can stop the rest of this."

Angel turned to the three girls. "Are there any tunnels, sewer access, or anything else below this school?" The girls looked at him blankly, shaking their heads.

"What about the holes that the zombies came up from?" Lawson suggested.

"'Might not lead to her," Angel said. "But it could be worth a try. You four," he looked at Cordelia, Erica, Kara and Lora, "are staying up here with the door barricaded. Lawson, you're staying here with them to make sure nothing gets in at them, but first I want you to do a quick patrol of the corridors and get anyone else in here that you can find. I'll get Spike to stay outside the door until you get back."

Lawson nodded.

"Are those things attracted to blood?" Erica asked.

Angel nodded. "She should be ok though," he said, looking at Kara, "you've covered it up and you'll have the door closed."

"No," Erica said, "I was thinking about … Lawson, was it?"

Lawson nodded. "My name is Sam Lawson."

"Well _Sam_, why don't you use that sheet like I suggested in the first place, so that if you do find people you won't be leading the creatures right to them. And if you want a weapon, there are knives in the kitchens downstairs. I'm afraid that's the best we've got if you don't want to beat them off with a wooden broom from the closet there."

"Not a bad idea," Cordelia commented.

Lawson picked the sheet up as Angel went out of the door and spoke to Spike. After he had wound it around himself a few times, he went to the door, saying, "I'll be back as soon as possible."

He shut the door behind him and hurried off to find other survivors.

The four women were left alone in the room with each other.


	5. A new skill

Lora stayed in the corner away from the door, hugging herself and chewing her bottom lip with anxiety. Kara still looked pale, and frowned as she looked down at her wounded leg. Erica picked up the ruler again and started pacing restlessly up and down the classroom. Cordelia was sitting on the wide windowsill, still looking at Erica.

"You've got good instincts for this kind of thing," Cordelia pointed out to Erica.

"Well, I'm trying to write a horror novel in my spare time this year , so I've been thinking about emergencies and abnormal situations at lot," Erica explained, while staring at the floor. "Who knew I'd get to live one?"

"You'll get plenty of material for your story, then," Cordelia said.

"I will? You're saying there's more to come?" Erica asked in a weary tone, while no longer pacing.

Cordelia nodded. "Maybe I should explain why we're here. You are not a normal girl, Erica. For that matter, neither am I."

"What, we get the privilege of hanging out with sun-resistant vampires and zombies?" Erica said sarcastically.

"Well, yeah, that too. I'm a Seer. I get excruciating visions about people in trouble, and then we go help them."

"What's this got to do with Erica?" Lora spoke up again. She'd been very quiet lately; a stark contrast to her normal excitable personality, but that wasn't surprising considering what they'd just seen.

"Well," Cordelia said, "the vision I saw before I got sent here told me that those three guys were sent here to protect you, and you specifically, Erica."

"Why me?"

"Apparently, you were going to be a potential slayer anyway, but instead you got picked to be 'a vessel of power'. Either way, you weren't going to be normal."

"What does any of that mean?"

"I'm not really sure about the vessel thing yet, but I knew a slayer back in Sunnydale." Cordelia explained. "Two actually, even though there was only supposed to be one at a time. The term for them is vampire slayer, but technically they hunt all kinds of demons. When a slayer dies, one of the potential slayers is called to replace her. Well, the first slayer drowned and got revived, and since she was technically dead the next one was called. Slayers are very strong, and they're pretty agile and fast too, so that they can hunt demons. About a year ago, a powerful witch used an ancient weapon of the slayers to change the rules so that every potential slayer would become a slayer.

"You're not going to be slayer-strong for a while yet," she continued, "but in time, and with practice, you can bring it out. The Powers that Be, the ones that chose you for this, wanted someone who could eventually protect themselves, and someone who could physically handle having being the vessel. A slayer is the only human who really fits that description. They had to suppress your slayer aspect for a while though, because otherwise your body would reject being a vessel of power, possibly killing you, but if you were a completely normal human you wouldn't survive it either."

"What about me?" Kara asked in a subdued voice.

"Huh?"

"In the movies, if you get bit or scratched by a zombie, you turn into one," she said, worry evident in her voice and expression.

"Don't get me wrong, I love Hollywood," Cordelia said, "but they're not always accurate. You'll be fine. 'Probably get a scar, but your dead body has to be raised from the grave to become a zombie. If it's done properly, the zombie can be just like the person it was when they were still alive, but the ones outside are just --" she broke off suddenly, clutching her head. "Oh, ow, I hate this part," she said between gasps.

The other girls didn't know what to do, but after a few moments Cordelia sat up straighter. She was still holding her head, but she seemed to be all right.

"Okay," Cordelia said slowly, "now I can tell you a little more about who you're going to be."

"That was a vision?" Kara asked.

"Yeah," Cordelia said. "Have any of you got some aspirin?"

The girls shook their heads. "I got some downstairs, though." Lora said.

Cordelia sighed. "Anyway, this is going to help Kara out as well as Erica." She had already learned the other girls' names while they'd been in the room together before Angel's arrival.

"How?" Erica asked.

"Well, seeing as you're a 'vessel of power', you've already got something called the blood of the ancients running through you. It's potent stuff."

"I don't feel very powerful." Erica said sceptically.

"You haven't learned how to use it yet." Cordelia pointed out. "One of the things that you can learn how to do is heal people, which is where Kara comes in. It won't be easy at first, you've got to learn how to release it, and you have to have some idea of how it works."

"All right then, teach me," Erica said, leaning against the windowsill. "It's not like we've got anything else to do until Sam gets back, and if can help us, then good."

"Okay," Cordelia said, now standing up straight again, but still looking a little pale from the pain, "That blood of the ancients stuff hasn't fully integrated into your system, just like your slayer abilities haven't emerged yet. Eventually you'll be able to just think about it and be able to use it, but that's probably years away from now. For the time being, you've got to learn how to trigger the healing, to sort of wake it up from within you and then communicate what you want from it. The healing part is drawn straight from the essence of Life, whatever that is. As I understand it, life for humans really got started with fire, so it is a part of the trigger."

"I have to light a fire?" Erica asked.

"Just a match is enough for this. If you can see the flame and understand it, visualising it as being a key to life, the life energy should 'wake up'."

"You said it was a part of the trigger, what else?" Erica asked.

"Your action will tell it who you want to heal."

"What, wave my hands or something and say the magic word?" Erica said half-jokingly.

"No, but what you will do is part of the key. The essence within you has to 'understand' that you want the person to be better. Basically what you're doing is saying, 'I care about this person enough to want them to recover', in a way that this stuff understands. The easiest way of expressing that affection is through a simple, sisterly kiss. Nothing more than that, don't worry. Then Life will go through your body and into Kara or whoever it is you want to get better."

"So… the origin of human life, and affection are the keys to transferring Life, and we represent it with fire and a kiss?" Erica tried to get it straight.

"Exactly." Cordelia said.

Lora, who was eager to see this work, went over to the items that had fallen from the prayer table, and picked up a candle and a box of matches. She lit the candle and set it down on the desk near Kara's leg, then stepped out of the way.

Erica sighed and hesitantly stepped up to the flame, staring right into the centre of it. She dropped the ruler on the floor and rested her hands on either side of the candle. "The fire represents life," she muttered, "Life began with fire, fire means life, life means healing, fire is the key to healing." In her mind she was wondering what it would feel like to have blood of the ancients 'wake up', and then she told her brain to shut up and concentrate. She continued muttering, and visualised the flame as being life, and that it would help Kara get better. "I can feel a tingling," she said after a moment.

"That's the Life energy," Cordelia said "you've got it, now keep thinking of the fire and life."

Erica gave a little nod, trying not to break her concentration. Kara looked a little nervous, but she stayed still as Erica quickly leaned forward and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. The tingling sensation rapidly travelled from around Erica's heart, up her throat and through her lips. Kara felt the same sensation start in her cheek and spread through her body, down to her leg. She felt the wound tighten, and shrink as the skin knitted back together, and the pain had lessened almost instantly, until her leg felt normal again.

Erica stepped back and leaned against the cupboard behind her. "Ooh, I feel queasy," she said, putting a hand to her stomach.

"It will pass." Cordelia assured her while watching Kara's reaction. Kara was un-knotting and unwinding the red-stained shirt. The skin beneath it was smooth, unmarked, and perfectly normal.

"You did it!" Lora exclaimed. Cordelia smiled, and Erica looked a little surprised that it had worked.

Kara held up the shirt to Erica, "Sorry about this, I guess you won't be able to use it again."

"That's okay," Erica said quietly, taking it and watching Kara hop down from the desk without any discomfort at all.

After a few moments Erica seemed to come out of her daze. She straightened up and looked toward the door. "Maybe Sam will come back with someone else who needs help soon," she commented.

"Just don't exhaust yourself," Cordelia warned. "For now, your body can only handle so much healing, until it's gotten used to doing it."

"We might need more room for more people," Kara pointed out, "I mean, there was a school-full of people here by lunch-time."

Erica nodded and walked across the room to the wall that was adjacent to the door.

"What is it?" Cordelia asked.

"That wall is only temporary," Lora explained as she rummaged through the desk drawer. Cordelia noticed that although the wall stretched from the ceiling to the floor, it was in sections, about two metres wide each. On the section closest to the door was a little circular handle at about chest height.

Erica waited by the handle while looking toward the desk, where Lora came up with a metal key. Lora tossed it to Erica so she could undo the lock. The parts of the wall could then be bunched up in the sections and pushed back against the side of the room that had the windows.

"If we open it up we'll have two classrooms to put people in," Kara said, and then she remembered the candle and blew it out before an accident could occur. Then she started cleaning up the mess made by the prayer table. Lora made herself busy by pushing the teacher's desk back against the wall, out of the way.

A click was heard as Erica succeeded in unlocking the partitions. She put the key in the back pocket of her jeans and started pushing against the wall. Cordelia got up off the windowsill to help Erica with the walls. She hadn't gotten two steps when Erica shrieked and was pulled through into the other room.


	6. Finishing it

A window in their room was broken as a zombie came up the side of the building to get in at them. It had smashed at it with one hand while gripping the windowsill with the other. The window had been hit so hard that some of the glass hit Cordelia in her arm. Cordelia staggered as they buried into her skin, looking down with surprise.

Lora darted away from the windows but hesitated in running for the door because it was right next to where the partitions opened up into the next room. They didn't know how many things were on the other side.

Kara opened the cupboard she was next to and grabbed a broom to use as a weapon. She ran for the zombie at the window with the broom under her arm like a lance and rammed the zombie in the chest with the brush-end of the broom, knocking it off the windowsill to fall to the ground.

At that moment Spike opened the door, with some people from around the school visible behind him. "In here," he was saying to them as he looked around, trying to determine the source of the sounds he'd just heard. "Where's Erica?" he demanded when he couldn't see her.

Lora pointed to the other room. "We're being attacked!" she cried.

Spike turned around and yelled over the heads of the humans. "Lawson, get in here and protect everyone else, I'm going after the girl." He ran through the opening into the next empty classroom. The open window was the only point of access so Spike ran to it, hearing sounds of a scuffle below.

He was only in time to see a zombie going down into a dirt tunnel, and no visible sign of Erica. The windows of the classroom were facing out into the grassed area in front of the office where they had first appeared. He saw zombies past the gates of the school; they were spreading. He didn't hesitate in jumping from the window to land on the ground, then following Erica down the hole. He didn't need to breathe and he didn't need light to see, so he had no problems with climbing through the tunnel.

888

The school desks had been stacked against the walls for open day, and Lawson grabbed a few to ram in front of the door, and asked the teacher he'd found how to close and lock the partition.

"Erica has the key," Cordelia said, her hand clutching her arm.

Lawson saw that she was injured, and looked around. There were mostly girls here, and a few adults, but he started issuing orders as if they were his men back on the submarine. He told everyone who wasuninjured to close the blinds over the windows of both rooms and stack up desks against them. While they worked he ministered to Cordelia.

"It's not deep," she assured him, as he took her arm in his hands "I got worse back in Sunnydale."

"We've still got to fix it, or you'll get an infection," Lawson said. "Is there a fist aid kit in here?" he asked the others.

It turned out there wasn't, so Cordelia got to become part of the 'sheet club', as she put it, at least until they could get out of the room to real bandages and disinfectant. Lawson ripped a shiny blue sheet down to size and pulled out the glass pieces as gently as he could. He wound the strip he'd made around her arm and knotted it. "How is that?" he asked.

"Better, thanks," Cordelia said, noting that the colour wasn't too bad of a match for her dress. How thoughtful. She smiled at his gold and now red-stained sheet. "Fashionable," she commented.

He looked down with a sheepish smile and got rid of the sheet, as the bite was no longer bleeding. "How's the injured girl?" he asked.

"Perfect," Cordelia said, pointing her out, working among the others.

"How?" Lawson asked.

"Erica was learning what she can do," Cordelia explained.

Lawson nodded, remembering the future Erica who had saved him, healed Gunn and fought like a true warrior. He hoped they could make sure she got to that point without getting her killed.

"So what do we do now?" Cordelia asked.

"We wait."

888

**A/N: By the way, this triple 8 thing is because the site won't let me use asterisks to divide my chapters.**

Spike could hear Erica up ahead, saying things like, "No! Let go of me!" At least she was conscious, and she didn't sound hurt. The tunnel ended in a brick lined room, deep underground. There were torches up on the walls. Up at the end of the room, about to leave through another passageway, he saw two zombies struggling with Erica, who was putting up a fight.

One had hold of her legs and the other had her torso, but she still kicked and hit at them the best she could. The one holding her upper body already had a broken jaw. As she successfully kicked off the one holding her legs, Spike ran up and decapitated the other one. Erica dropped to the ground as he finished off the one she had kicked away from her. She was a bit muddy on her arms and clothes, and she might have gotten a few bruises, but she looked all right. In fact, he could see that she was annoyed as well as frightened. He gave a small chuckle – she was going to be a fighter.

"Come on, I'll take you back," Spike said, holding out his hand for her.

"No!" Erica said forcefully, surprising them both. She took a deep breath and took his hand to help herself up. "There isn't time. The zombies are leaving the school grounds, so we have to _finish_ this by stopping the witch before this spreads and more people get hurt. Taking me back is a waste of time, when I'd probably be just as safe with one of you."

Spike was surprised at her bravery, considering that she'd never been exposed to this kind of thing before. He raised his eyebrows, but chose not to argue. She was right, they had to finish it. As it had just been proven, the classroom wasn't that safe at the moment anyway.

"Do zombies like fire?" Erica asked, while fixing her loose ponytail.

"Not as a rule, no."

"Then lead the way," Erica told him, lifting a torch from it's bracket, "and I'll watch your back and burn anything that follows us."

"Just keep up then," Spike answered, and walked down the passage.

She followed him through a few passageways, but they didn't encounter any more zombies. They were probably all above ground.

"This place is really outdated," Erica commented. "I mean, even when Australia was settled, and when the nuns came, they didn't have to use torches like this. They had lanterns and lamps and stuff at least, and most of the nuns got electricity. I mean, who built this place? The Munsters?"

Spike didn't comment.

There were no doors, only archways leading into smaller chambers or more passageways. Around one corner they bumped into Angel. He looked annoyed that Erica was there.

"Have you found her yet?" Spike asked about the witch.

"No," Angel replied, still giving Erica a strange look. "It's like a labyrinth in here. What is she doing down here?"

Erica got annoyed. "_She_ got kidnapped by a couple of zombies that got in the classroom, and then decided to make herself useful."

"Let's just get this done," Spike said to Angel, gesturing toward another corridor with the axe. Erika wasn't about to wait for approval; she walked through first. Angel hurried to keep her in sight, and Spike followed.

"She did say she'd be drawn to trouble," Angel muttered warningly to himself.

They entered another large chamber. At one end was a cushioned chair raised on a dais, and on either side of the chair was a passageway, each leading off into the darkness somewhere.

Erica had her torch held over her shoulder like a baseball bat ready to strike, gripping it with both hands. Angel had Spike's sword from the roof, and Spike still had the axe.

"An audience?" a voice said. "I haven't had an audience in centuries."

From the left passageway came a zombie, and from the right walked a woman, middle-aged and wearing a light grey smock over a black dress. She raised her hand as the vampires ran for her with weapons raised, and Spike and Angel were flung back against the wall. The torch was torn from Erica's hands from an invisible presence. A bubble-like shield appeared in front of the vampires, and Erica was cut off from her protectors. They could see her and she could see them, but she couldn't hear what they yelled at her. She looked nervously back at the two enemies.

The zombie had stayed in it's place by the chair. The witch beckoned to Erica as she sat in her chair. "Come here, little girl." Erica took a step back and shook her head. She clenched her fists and bent her knees, trying to stay ready for anything. The witch raised her eyebrows and gestured to the zombie.

He approached Erica as the vampires beat their fists and weapons against the bubble without success. The zombie rushed at Erica so she sidestepped it and kicked it in the torso as it passed. She kicked at the back of the knee, forcing it down, then she grabbed its shoulders and kicked it in the spine at the base of its neck, as hard as she could. Even though it was strong, it was still only bones held together, and she decapitated it.

She was turning around to face the witch when the woman gestured again. Erica grabbed at her throat as she rose into the air and levitated toward the witch. "Tch, tch, tch." The witch rebuked her as Erica was brought close enough to face her. "Now, lets have a look at you," she said, standing up and circling around Erica. "So, this is the girl who would free me?" she commented, "Feisty, perhaps, but powerful?"

While around the back of Erica, she put her hand up between the girl's shoulders. "Ahh, there it is," she said, moving her hand down the spine. Erica grunted as she struggled. The witch went to her chair and drew a long knife from beneath the cushion. "Be good child," she said, "and I might not have to kill you. I simply need some of that blood. I'm sure those vampires could sympathise with that?"

She raised the knife as Erica started going limp. Erica's hands dropped to from her throat to her sides, so the witch decided to act fast before the girl choked to death. She raised the knife up in front of Erica, preparing to cut into the veins on one of her arms. Erica's legs came up to wrap around the witch's shoulders and she grabbed the knife. Before the witch could cast another spell Erica rammed the knife into her face.

Erica dropped to the ground as the witch screamed, and the vampires were freed. Angel ran up and decapitated the witch as Spike picked a heavily coughing Erica up off the ground. The walls shook as the magic holding them together faded. Spike threw Erica over his shoulders and they ran back the way they had come. The tunnels were the only thing that was stable – the zombies had made them, not the witch. The vampires got there in time as the rooms behind them caved in.

When they got above ground they saw the zombies falling over and burning to ashes where they lay. Spike put Erica down on the ground, where she sat up and massaged her throat with her fingertips. "Why didn't you run?" Angel asked her.

"Give her a minute," Spike protested.

"I figured I wouldn't get far," Erica replied, getting to her feet and coughing a couple of times. "Besides, from what Cordelia said, I'll have to get used to this sort of thing, and learn how to deal with it."

Angel sighed. She was right. "Just don't get reckless."

"Oh, no," Erica agreed, "I'm not about to go running into life-and-death situations just because I'm supposed to. I'm not fond of getting bruised." She smiled. "I try to pick my fights carefully, but this time I just knew there was no alternative." Angel nodded.

"So now what?" Spike asked Angel.

"Let's go get Lawson and Cordelia," Angel said, "we're finished here."


	7. Now what?

**AN: Sorry, this chapter is mostly just about wrapping things up, so there isn't much detail, and no action. It's basically a summary. It will explain the start of the next story though. I WILL CONTINUE this fic, when I get time.**

Cordelia wasn't really surprised that Erica had helped to banish the witch. "It's who she is," she explained, "or at least, it will be." She explained all that she knew about Erica so far, but it was limited and she told them that they would learn more as they went along.

After much discussion, Erica agreed to go back to America with the others. Angel wanted to reopen Angel Investigations, and check that Wolfram and Hart really had shut down. The others were happy to be involved in paranormal investigations again.

Cordelia, like she had before, asked if she could stay on as secretary. It wasn't a problem for Angel to employ them, because he had already spent a year not using the pay he received from his position at Wolfram and Hart. Erica was the only one who did not sign on as an employee, and at the time, Angel wasn't really sure how much she could offer. He still saw her as a mortal young woman in need of protection and guidance.

The next thing to sort out was where Erica would stay. She earned some money from sending stories to magazines, and she received an allowance from her grandparents, so she could manage by herself if she had to. She suggested taking up something like waitress-ing if she needed more money to get by – she did not want to be dependent on her protectors for everything. Angel was adamant that if supernatural things were drawn to her that she have someone with her at all times. Erica was adamant that she wouldn't have all three of them shadowing her all of the time.

Cordelia had already been set up with an apartment in LA, with three bedrooms. After all, if the Powers that Be could stop time and rearrange reality, they could do a little thing like giving their Seer somewhere to live. Erica chose to stay with Cordelia, and Lawson volunteered to be their roommate. "She saved my life," he said to Angel, "then she saved my soul. I'm not going to let anything happen to her."

The others had decided that, for the time being, they leave out the part about Erica's future self when talking to the girl – she already had a lot to take in; her whole life had changed. Likewise, Cordelia was considered better off not knowing what had happened to her before her comeback into the world. Cordelia herself specifically asked not to be told. She knew she'd been there before, but she didn't want to know about it. She had been given a new life, and she was going to start over.

Before they left Australia, Angel tried to track down Gunn and Illyria via phone. Gunn had left them a message – he was taking a break for a while and staying with his friend Anne to help out with the kids shelter. Illyria was nowhere to be found, but Spike and Angel guessed that she wasn't wreaking havoc – it had only been a day or two, and she was likely still grieving for Wesley.

Spike still had his place (though it needed redecorating after Hamilton's attack), and Angel figured he would stay in his office again.

He smiled when he realised he wouldn't need to live below ground anymore.

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**A/N: This IS NOT finished. I will be writing up a sequel, but I don't know how long it will take me to post it. After all, Erica's got to try bridging the realms, and eventually she's got to become the woman we saw at the start, right? By the way, I'd love it if you'd review the story.**

**And yes, I haven't really started the Lawson/Cordy bit, but it will get moving in the next part.**

**For now, here's that dream I promised you, the one that inspired me. I don't know if disclaimers apply to dreams, but it is something my brain came up with after watching the Lawson episode.**

13/01/05

I was at my high school where Angel, Spike and Lawson were pretending to work as counsellors or something. Actually, the school was on a Hell-mouth, and they were helping me deal with whatever went on there. Angel could walk in sunlight because of something Wolfram and Hart had done. Lawson could do the same, but that was because I'd saved his (un) life and given him a full soul and the ability to walk in daylight.

With my help, Spike was getting there too, but he still had to tell the kids that he had violent allergies to UV rays.

Lawson was my roommate; he sought to keep me safe in return for saving his life. I liked Spike though, I could always get a friendly wave out of him, even though he could be a real dick to some other people.

Miss P, a few other girls and I were talking about the possibility that the school was haunted. I told them about a time in year 9 (actually another dream, but I thought it was a memory) where I felt myself being pushed over the lower yr 9 stair railings to my shoulders on the floor. I said I'd had a witness, but 'the Rachel character' said no, making me seem like a liar for attention.

I rephrased and said I meant that there was someone there to help me up, not that anyone had seen a ghost. Then a friend told me of a time she'd felt all of the energy sucked out of her so that she couldn't move, near the same stairs. It had felt like something had grabbed her legs, and it looked dark where she pointed. I shuddered, thinking that I'd avoid going there in the future.

Later I was found lying on the floor partway down the indoor stairs in front of the Home Economics room. On the wall behind me was a message written in blood, that I was telling the truth, and suffering would ensue because no one believed me.

Lawson found me, and when he saw the message he asked the ghost to take him and spare me. Cordy heard this and must have thought it brave because she gave a little sigh.

I was regaining consciousness and said, "Careful Cordy, he works with us. You don't want another case of Doyle. Then again…" who was I to deny a chance at love?

Anyway, I got up and complained that there was scratching all over my back, something I couldn't have done on my own.


	8. What she remembers

**AN: You know, I said that I would leave this story alone for a while, but I just couldn't keep myself away. Too bad for my homework. If anyone cares, I passed my Anatomy exam.**

**Bera: Thanks a million for your support and enthusiasm. I am, as always, grateful.**

**Anyway, my standard disclaimer is that I don't own the Buffy Universe, or any of Joss Whedon's creations.**

**PS: I couldn't think of a good surname for Erica that didn't sound corny, so I just used the opposite of Buffy's surname. But maybe, if I get a good suggestion, I'll change it later. **

**Ok, get reading. Luv Hezza.**

The blood of the Ancients: Part 2

A day in the life of Erica Winters

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8: What she remembers…

Erica was having a nightmare.

Something had been taken from her, had been added to and twisted into something else. It had hurt, but there were voices, soothing her, promising an end to the pain. Promising something great in her future. A monumental responsibility and a monumental power to go with it. She still didn't like it; she was afraid.

She had been home, at her mother's house, tucked into her bed. It was a time when she believed the only monsters were terrorists and politicians. A time when she was still innocent, and unaware of the supernatural world.

There was a searing pain in her abdomen and chest, and an unpleasant tingling that spread right down to her fingers and toes, but she couldn't move or cry out. The voices had pleaded with her to stay calm, lest she hurt herself in a struggle.

To distract her from the pain and stress they sent her images of other women, whom she'd never met but seemed awfully familiar. Not always in looks, but they _felt_ familiar. She saw warriors. She saw magic, and monsters being defeated. She felt the emotions of the women. Some of them were very kind, while others were fierce. All of them were confident. All of them had a strong determination to protect. All of them were heroes, champions in some way. And in some way she did not understand, they were all connected to her.

Her head swam as she was shown the realm between realms. "One day … yours," the voices said. "Your responsibility. Your domain. Yours to influence … when you are ready." Erica had blacked out, and had awakened in the morning unhurt, and her memory of what she thought to be a dream was blurry. She forgot about it. But she had been chosen. She would not be called upon to remember it for a few years, until her champions had found her.

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Erica woke from the long-forgotten memory. The dream made more sense now. She understood what had happened to her. She still didn't know who the women were, but she knew she would find out. She knew that she was a vessel of power, and that the blood of the ancients had been running through her since that night. And now, because of the memory, she knew that one day she would be custodian of the realm between realms, and the keeper of balance between realities.

Erica sat up in her new bed. It was still dark outside, but stray light from a street lamp that filtered through her blinds showed her the dim room. Her queen-size bed was pushed up into the corner. The wall was to her right and behind her head. To the left of her was her bedside table, the radio clock showing 5:37 in neon red numbers. There were two books next to the clock; the top one was a journal, the one beneath it was a text book: Multimedia studies.

She couldn't make out the covers, but they were dark blue with gold star patterns all over them. Looking to her left, she could see her bedroom door across the room. Next to the door, and against the same wall was her wardrobe, with sliding mirror doors and what she considered space for three people's clothes. The wardrobe stretched from ceiling to floor, and went across to the other wall. She had all of her clothes hung up on the bar, and hair and makeup accessories scattered in the drawers. Her purse was on the floor of the wardrobe.

There was a high shelf in the wardrobe too, where Erica planned to start putting weapons once Angel loosened up and let her have some. At that point she had already known that she was destined for a life that was heavily affected by the supernatural world. She knew she'd be learning to defend herself against it, but Angel was reluctant to teach her. His plan was to just keep her out of harms' way and out of trouble, and that was that. He hoped she'd never need to fight her way out of a tight spot as long as he and the others were around to protect her. He was of the opinion that she'd start looking for trouble if she felt overconfident and capable of handling it.

Sitting up and looking forward, Erica could see the wall with the covered window in it. To the right of the window, in the corner, was an old-fashioned oak desk with a set of drawers in it and an armless computer chair next to it. On top of the desk there were some scattered pages, pens, an exercise book for multimedia and her laptop, which was currently shut.

The laptop, the journal, everything in the wardrobe and her bedcovers were the only things she had brought with her to America. She'd bought the bed, bedside table and desk new, with some money her mother had given her as this year's Christmas and birthday presents, and she'd trusted her mother to sell off everything she owned at her flat, including her car. Erica had already been living out of the house with a roommate at the time, but she was still on good terms with her mother. She told her that she'd gotten a job opportunity over in America via her magazine story editor, but she'd had to move fast or the position would be filled. The roommate really didn't care that she was going, as long as rent was paid up for the month.

It had been a week since her arrival in Los Angeles. Apart from the bedrooms, the flat where Cordelia, Lawson and Erica were staying was already furnished. They were on the eighth floor, and next door was a conveniently located gym. Erica was used to training weekly with her mother, who was an instructor, so she signed up for a membership the day after she arrived so she'd stay in shape. She had also trained in Tae-kwon Do while growing up, but she hadn't told the guys that yet, and in any case it had been a few years so she was rusty.

The stories that Erica wrote for the magazines were her part-time job (and she could still send them off from LA). She was still organising a day job, having sent resumes to a few nearby diners and small restaurants. She had already arranged for evening classes in multimedia studies, so that once she finished she could find a more permanent and better paid job.

Cordelia had assured her that, for a long while at least, if she chose to she could have a halfway normal life. Even with her dream now, Erica knew that she was still years away from being ready to take control of the mid-realm. For now, she could work, she could have friends, but she just couldn't tell people what she and her roommates really were. She still had no idea that it was her future self who had given the mission of protecting her to the three vampires; she had assumed that the Powers that Be had sent them to her, which was partly right.

**AN: Cordy/Lawson bit coming soon (At least it will start)**


	9. Nothing out of the ordinary here

**AN: I don't know where I got the idea for this apartment plan, but, like the fic, it's been in my head for a while. **

**And sorry, you'll have to wait until chapter 11 for some more action. I wanted to explain what's been happening to everyone else while Angel Investigations was being set up again.**

9: Nothing out of the ordinary here…

Unable to sleep, Erica went out to the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee so she could get back to working on her laptop. Her door had a lock on it (which would only keep out human-strength intruders) which she was only in the habit of using when she was getting changed. It opened inward to reveal the dining table, and beyond that, the lounge 'room' with a couch, two armchairs and TV. Technically the dining room, lounge room and kitchenette were all a part of the same room. The kitchenette was to the left of the lounge area and divided by a wall with a semicircle gap that started at the bench level and went up a metre. (Think of Giles' kitchen) Anyone working in the kitchen could easily see into the lounge area, and vice versa.

At the end of the room, opposite Erica's door was the front door, next to which was a low table with a bowl for keys and a small pot plant. Even though they were in a reasonable neighbourhood, there were deadbolts on the door – Angel was fairly neurotic about Erica and Cordelia's security.

Before the kitchen was a hallway that led left down toward the bathroom at the end. On the left was Lawson's room, and on the right, behind the kitchen was Cordelia's bedroom. Between Lawson and Erica's rooms was the pantry and storage cupboard. And that was their apartment, with dark blue carpets and sky-blue painted walls. The couches were navy blue, and the dining table was ash-oak with blue cushions. Cordelia was determined that everything matched, and Erica had to admit that the place looked nice. Her old roommate had been a tasteless slob by comparison.

Erica had turned on her bedroom light, so she didn't need to feel her way across the room, and then she turned on the kitchen light so she could boil the kettle. She was wearing star-print pyjamas and a fluffy blue dressing gown. She was only a nightie-person in summer, but she wasn't sure that she would be using her nighties at all while she had a male roommate, even though she was sure that Lawson would never touch her.

With his soul, he was basically the All American Joe he had been while human, a modern gentleman from his naval training, never mind that he felt indebted to Erica for reasons he wouldn't explain. Her major problem would just be embarrassment – she was not the type of girl that showed off her legs, unless she was swimming.

As Cordelia had been brought back from the point after graduation, Erica was actually her senior by almost a year, but not by too much, because Cordelia had been 18 at graduation and Erica was a little over 19. The girls were very different, but they got along well. Cordelia could still be tactless, and Erica could be very sarcastic when annoyed, but so far they hadn't found any opportunities to disagree with each other, let alone fight. Cordelia had helped Erica and her friends back at the school, so Erica was grateful for that, and Cordelia was also her link with the Powers that Be. They needed each other.

Cordelia knew that Erica had a hard road ahead of her, even though she was chosen for great things. While she didn't pity her, Cordelia had resolved to be tolerant with her, just in case there was something about Erica that she didn't like. It had only been a week, so they still had time to develop pet-peeves about each other.

Erica kept to her room while in the flat and when it wasn't mealtimes, working on the computer with her stories and multimedia assignments. Cordelia was kept busy during the day with the few cases that had already come into Angel Investigations. Lawson was usually working on a case too, up at Angel's new place. The three of them usually ate dinner together, thanks to Lawson's cooking. Cordelia was a helpless cook, and Erica could cook basic meals but preferred not to if she could get away with it.

Lawson ate with them too, but every few nights he supplemented his meal with a glass of pig's blood from the butchers. He no longer needed it to survive, but there was still a nagging thirst every now and then. Lawson was secretly worried that if he starved his thirst then he might attack one of the girls in a moment of wild desperation. He didn't like to think about the moster he had once been, but he was very wary of letting it re-emerge. Erica had grimaced the first time she had seen him drink blood, but she understood what he was, and that he needed it. It was another constant reminder that she was no longer living a normal life.

Erica got a carton of milk from the fridge and ignored the covered jug of blood. She spooned in her coffee and sugar from the white ceramic jars and turned the kitchen light back off once she'd made her drink. She glanced toward Lawson's room and wondered if he slept. The first night that she'd gotten up early, he had come out of his room fully dressed and had politely asked if there was a problem. Rather than it being comforting to think he was a 24 hr guardian, Erica had been a little bothered. She was already annoyed with Angel's relentless safety warnings; she hoped that Lawson wasn't also so uptight. So far he was the friendliest of the three.

It had turned out that he just hadn't gone to bed yet, he'd been at Spike's apartment fixing it up after Hamilton's attack, and then he'd gone looking for Gunn and Illyria as a favour to Angel while he was busy organising Angel Investigations. Erica simply hadn't heard him come home, but she still wasn't sure if vampires really slept.

Angel and Lawson were about equal in their desire to keep Erica from harm. Angel, always one for the 'I am serious about my responsibilities' approach, simply felt that he would have failed in his promise if Erica got hurt. There was still some inner need to protect her as an innocent, but it was mostly the promise that motivated him.

Lawson was slightly more easygoing about it. Though his promise did mean something to him, his primary motive was to repay Erica for what her future self had done for him. In truth, he was a little awed by the woman she would become. He had never met a slayer, so what he had seen that night outside the Hyperion had deeply impressed him. He respected her for it, even though she hadn't really done it yet.

Erica was still unsure about Spike. Everything he did seemed to be for the fun of it, but she liked that he was so laid-back with her. She smiled when he jokingly referred to Angel as the boss, taskmaster, or any other similar names. Since her return to LA she hadn't seen too much of him. She hadn't gotten into trouble again yet, so he hadn't been near her. She knew from dinner talk that he was working on a case at the moment, but she wasn't exactly sure what it was about. Even though Cordelia only remembered Spike as a killer, she had been shown enough in her first vision to know that he wouldn't be a threat to her or any of the others.

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The day before, Wesley Price had been laid to rest. By that time Illyria had been found, as had Gunn. Before they met Erica they were asked not mention anything about the night they had first seen her. Lawson had explained it all on the night he had looked for them. At the funeral, Illyria adopted the guise of Winifred Burkle to prevent alarm among other guests. Giles was there, but he was the only watcher – current or otherwise – that turned up.

Spike had told Erica a little bit about Wesley, which differed to the man that Cordelia remembered. Though he hadn't much liked Wesley, Spike was kind in his description of him, and didn't need to lie to make him sound like a fine man. Fred was seen to cry as the coffin was laid into the ground, and though the others could not be sure it was real tears, they suspected that Illyria truly grieved for the human who had been so devoted to her.

Erica was introduced to Illyria, Giles and Gunn, who had brought Anne with him. Anne remembered the man who had been shot for the sake of one of the street kids she was in the business of helping. Angel quietly drew Giles aside before the service and asked him to start researching anything he could on 'the vessel'.

Giles was interested to hear that one of his potential slayers had been converted into something else. Cordelia's reappearance was also a surprise to him. He didn't need to be asked not to tell her about her life, because he hadn't really seen her since graduation. These two surprises were nothing to the fact that the funeral was held during the day, and three souled vampires were attending. Angel and Cordelia told him everything they knew about Erica so that he could get going with his investigation. Giles also spoke briefly with Erica, who was interested to learn about the Council, and what would have happened to her had she remained a potential slayer.

There had been little news forthcoming of Buffy or the newly created slayers. Most of them were in Cleveland, dealing with the Hell-mouth that was there. Apparently Buffy had become bored with the Immortal, something which Angel and Spike were very happy to hear. She, Faith, Willow, Kennedy, Wood and a few of the girls were currently weeding out vampire masters and demons in Cleveland until they could figure out where the other opening to the Hell-mouth was.

Illyria left after the funeral. Angel had caught her before she left and asked her what she was going to do now. "I will be alone for some time now," she answered, "you will find me when I am ready to be found." Gunn promised to stay in contact if they ever wanted him on a mission, but he was going to take time off from fighting demons to help Anne out with her shelters – not every cry for help was because of monsters.

It had been another big revelation day for Erica. She hadn't known anything about watchers, and now she was honouring the memory of one alongside demon-hunters (human or otherwise) and an ex-god.

Back in her bedroom, Erica shook her head. She almost felt like she was in one of those stories she had written, but she didn't doubt for a moment that this was real. She set her cup down on her desk and flipped open her laptop. She got her text book from the bedside table as the computer was loading.

Today might be a long, empty day. She didn't have any job interviews and the next multimedia lecture wasn't until the next day. She liked the movies just fine, but she was not a daytime TV type of person. It didn't help that she was up so early either. She might spend the day down at Angel Investigations, just to see what they did there. She doubted that Angel would let her do anything dangerous, but maybe there was some research she could do. She'd ask Cordelia about it when she got up. But before facing a broody Angel again, she was going to finish off her current assignment and then spend an hour or two down at the gym.


	10. Not a weakling

**AN: Standard disclaimers always apply, okay?**

10:Not a weakling

Spike could hear the sound of smacking as he strode into the gym. Cordelia had asked him to pick up Erica and bring her down to the office before midday. He could see her now, punching the heavy black bag hung up at the end of the room. There was some red tape stuck up on the bag at eye level, and Erica was hitting it directly every time. She was wearing black track pants and the same black tank top she'd worn at the school, with her hair tied back in a braid. A few wisps of hair had already come loose from the workout, but she was focussed on the bag, not her image. Her hands were wrapped kick boxer-style in long strips of material to protect her knuckles, and her feet were bare.

She hadn't seen him come in, so he stood and watched her for a few minutes. The smacking was constant as she pounded away at the bag, while switching her feet and circling her imaginary opponent. She wasn't very strong yet, but that was to be expected. She was still mortal, or close to it. Her punches were sure and fast, however. Spike was reminded of the night that Buffy had died to save Dawn, when she had hit the bag with such determination and focus.

Thinking about it, Erica wasn't too much younger than the slayer. He continued watching as Erica paused to stretch her arms, and then began kicking at the bag. Like most girls, her leg strength was better than her arm strength, and her kicks made the bag move further than it had before. She knew how to move her hips and body to put her weight into the kicks. Her flexibility wasn't bad either; she was using a few head-height attacks.

He nodded his head. He had been right. She was going to be a fighter, even as human as she was. Nothing would take her without at least some effort, even if she was caught on her own. Spike smiled. He couldn't wait until Erica showed Angel that she wasn't helpless. Or better yet, if she gave a thrashing to some creep who underestimated her. Maybe she still had a little way to go before that point, but with the look on her face right then, he knew she was determined to get there.

Just then she saw that he was there, so she finished up a combination of moves and then walked over to her bag. She pulled out a towel and a water bottle, then put the bag straps over her shoulder. "You're early," she said when Spike approached her. "I've still got to have my shower before I go anywhere." She was wiping her forehead and neck with the towel and then she unscrewed the bottle to drink.

Spike shrugged, his hands tucked into his coat pockets. "Cordy just said to get you before midday. I'll wait." Erica nodded and walked off toward the ladies' change room. About fifteen minutes later she emerged, wearing jeans, a white shirt with a kitten on it, a light blue hooded jacket and her sneakers. She was brushing her hair, and she raised her eyebrows when she saw the woman at the front desk flirting with Spike.

It seemed she'd asked him to join up, because Erica heard him reply, "No thanks luv, I get enough of a workout with my job."

"Well, what do you do?" the woman asked, her head resting on her hand. Spike handed her a card. She glanced at it and then looked back at him. "A detective agency, how much exercise would you get doing that?" she asked.

"You'd be surprised." Spike told her. He turned to Erica. "Shall we?" he asked, opening the front door for her.

"Yeah," Erica replied, walking through and waving politely to the girl at the front desk.

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At the office, Lawson was sitting at a desk and Cordelia was sitting on the desk as they looked through some thick books. "It looked kind of scrawny," Cordelia said, "Like its skin was wrapped too tight around its body."

Lawson nodded and kept flicking through the pages. He kept glancing up at the woman sitting next to him, until he took a deep breath and said quietly, "That's a nice dress, Cordy."

"Thanks," Cordelia said, still looking at the book. There was silence for a few moments. "Look," Cordelia said at last, meeting Lawson's eyes, "just ask me to dinner already."

"Huh?" Lawson was caught off guard by her bluntness.

"The last guy who hesitated died before we got to our first date," Cordelia explained. "So do me a favour, okay? Don't hesitate."

"All right," Lawson smiled, "How about dinner?"

"I'd love to," Cordelia replied. "But not tonight."

"Right," Lawson agreed, "A demon raising to take care of. So it was brown, bony-looking and ugly?"

"Yeah," Cordelia answered. "It's a bunch of teenage kids who will raise it. It didn't look that tough though somaybe you could take Erica with you tonight. She seemed interested in the whole fighting evil thing."

"If it's going to be an easy kill, sure," Lawson replied.

"I don't think so," Angel said, walking through the front door ahead of Erica and Spike.

"What?" Erica asked, as she hadn't heard any of the conversation.

"You're not going on the hunt tonight," Angel told her, sitting down at his desk and unfolding the newspaper he'd picked up while he was out.

"And why not?" Erica asked.

"She's eventually going to have to deal with things like this on her own," Cordelia reasoned, "What better time is she going to get the experience than by watching you guys kill demons. Besides, this one will be easy, he's a weakling."

"She's already older than Slayers are when they start hunting," Spike pointed out.

"Slayers tend to die young," Angel countered. "You should know that better than any of us, you used to kill them whenever you could."

"Slayers don't get a trio of super-vamp protectors," Cordelia said.

"Come on," Erica said, choosing to ignore the comment about Spike being a slayer-killer, "I'm not going to die tonight. I'm careful, and I'll stay out of the way."

Angel gave her a hard, calculating look. Erica was going to say something else, but he interrupted. "If she's going then all three of us have to be there." Angel said, looking pointedly at Spike and Lawson.

Erica smiled, knowing that she'd won.

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**PS: I know the Lawson /Cordy bit was really short, but this fic is not revolving around them. I will add more on their r/ship later. **

**But then again, I won't know if that's what you want unless you REVIEW.**

**PPS: I haven't written 11 yet, but I already know what I'll write, so please be patient and I'll get it posted ASAP.**


	11. Deadly Mistake

**AN To Spikeluva: Well... I'm kind of in favour of a Spike/ Erica relationship, but nothing's certain yet. If I do write it, it won't be until after the next part ("Part 3: Off the beaten path") because I've got something else in mind for the new heroine. Mwahaha.(Evil laugh)**

11: Deadly Mistake

"Don't leave her side, and stay back." Angel ordered Lawson, who nodded.

They were outside a high school. It was nighttime, but even Erica could make out the buildings because of the security lights and the big, bright moon. The buildings were peach, the windows were mostly blue-tinted, and there was a lot of grassed areas, with concrete pavement leading between classrooms.

Spike had a sword, Angel had his double half-moon axe and Lawson only had some rope. He wouldn't be entering the fight unless it was absolutely necessary. Erica was armed. She was too light to wield anything like a sword or an axe, and she hadn't practiced with any long-range weapons, so Angel had allowed her a short knife. He was counting on her staying far enough out of danger that the creature wouldn't even know that she was there. Cordelia had also loaned her some pepper-spray, just in case. The knife was tucked into her belt and the pepper spray was in her right jacket pocket.

Even though Erica didn't smoke, she now always carried a lighter around in her pocket, and it was currently in her left jacket pocket. It was also 'just in case'. She hadn't healed anyone since Kara, but with the lighter handy she had the means to do it if she had to.

Lawson was standing next to Erica, a hand on her shoulder. Technically this was her second hunt, and she wasn't supposed to have been involved in the first one. Despite her inexperience, she had helped them to defeat the witch. That time it had been a human and humanoid zombies. This time she would see her first demon. Lawson expected her to be nervous, but she looked calm. Her heartbeat told him that she was a little anxious, but not too frightened.

"What time did Cordy say this would happen?" Erica asked.

"It's an amateur raising, so they probably won't start until midnight." Spike said. Erica looked at her watch and nodded.

"All we know for sure is that it's here, tonight." Lawson said. They hadn't even managed to identify the demon, but a standard dismemberment was usually enough to kill them. They just had to hope that it didn't have any special skills like breathing fire or a paralysing stare.

Angel glanced at Spike. "Let's go to work." Spike nodded, and the two left Erica and Lawson standing a little way away from the main buildings. Cordelia had seen shelves of books in her vision, so the two vampires circled the library. Erica got restless and checked her watch again, pressing a button on the side so that she could see the numbers illuminate.

"Once they're inside," Lawson told her, "we can go closer so that you can see what's happening. We just have to be quiet and out of sight so that the kids or the demon don't realise that we're out here."

Erica nodded, still staring ahead of them. Her mouth was pressed hard into a thin line, and her hand had unconsciously found its way to her belt, resting lightly upon the handle of the blade.

"You'll be fine," Lawson reassured her while lightly patting her shoulder. He looked back toward the library and watched for a few more moments. "Come on, we can go closer now." He walked across the grass to the wall of the library and paused beside a window. Erica followed and stood at the other side of the window, with her body out of sight and only part of her head visible to any within, if they had known where to look.

A group of blood-red robed kids were gathered around a circle of incense, candles and coloured powders. Their hoods were up so their faces were obscured. Most of them seemed to be humming in low tones, all as one in an eerie rhythm. One was reading softly from a piece of computer paper. They must have gotten the ritual off the Internet or something. One of them was tapping a tiny silver hammer to an ornatesilver bell. Erica could faintly hear the tones through the glass of the window, and she wondered where a bunch of kids could have gotten something like that.

Angel and Spike were just getting inside the building when Erica saw every particle of the incense and powder bounce up into the air and explode in a puff of coloured cloud. As the dust cleared in the circle, a bronze-brown lump could be seen, crouched on top of a burn mark on the carpet. The demon got to his feet. He had a narrow skull with a pointed nose and chin. His fingers were claws, and his teeth were sharp. One of the kids cried out, "Summoner!" and the beast howled.

The howl seemed to split Erica's every vessel, and it was unlike anything she had ever heard before. She gripped her head and covered her ears with her palms to try and drown it out, but it ended in a few seconds. It had seen the vampires advancing from the back of the room, and it's long claws clacked together menacingly. It growled, and grew taller; its bones cracking as it stretched. Fur sprouted frantically all over his body. Its narrow skull ended in a muzzle, and its stubbly ears unfurled into triangle-shaped ears and seemed to crawl up his skull beneath the skin to rest atop his head. All of this happened in seconds as the vampires ran to stop it before it could hurt one of its 'devoted followers'.

The dog-beast went to one knee and ripped a hole in the carpet with its claws, splintering right through the wood floor below it. A hole stretched and gaped open, and Erica was reminded of the school, where terrible beings had crawled up from below. A sense of foreboding gripped her like a hand of ice. Just as she'd feared, something was crawling up from below, lending more growls to its master's howling.

"Hell-hound," Lawson whispered, glancing at Erica to make sure she was still within reach if he had to drag her away quickly.

"I thought it was a werewolf," Erica whispered back, her eyes riveted on the scene as the first hellhound leaped out of the hole.

"Those are bigger, and they look more like wolves. Hell-hounds are pure demon, they are not human so we can kill them, but we can't kill a werewolf because the person inside them is innocent." Lawson was explaining quickly as they watched Spike going for the dog that leaped for a kid, and Angel went for its bestial master.

Erica remembered the moon that had made it so easy for her to see. "Oh shit, what if it's summoning werewolves as well?" She looked up at the sky as Lawson looked around with growing alarm.

"Look out!" he cried, pushing her away. Erica landed on her back on the grass as a large mass of fur and teeth and claws leapt at them and shoved Lawson into the wall behind him. It was bigger than a hellhound, and the snout was longer, and Erica had a split-second to think 'werewolf', as it tried to tear Lawson apart.

"Run!" Lawson yelled as he struggled with the monster, barely holding its muzzle away from his throat. Still on her back, Erica scrambled backwards with her hands for a couple of frantic metres before turning and pushing herself to her feet. There was no question of her helping Lawson, because more of the beasts were on their way, howling and snarling as they raced toward their master, even as more hell-hounds emerged from the deep crevice inside. Grimly, she knew that Lawson was capable of surviving a lot more damage than she could, and she'd likely be torn down in seconds if she stayed, so she ran for her life.

At least she could see where she was going, and the grass was uncluttered apart from the occasional planted tree. But her frightened mind pulled up images of how fast wolves and dogs were. She couldn't outrun them; she had to find a refuge quickly. She pelted toward the other buildings, wondering how on earth she would find an unlocked room to hide in at this time of night.

At the main building she found that she was right about the locked doors, but she kicked in a window and climbed inside as she heard howls from somewhere behind her. She ran to the classroom door, wrenched it open and slammed it shut behind her as she heard a terrible thud and felt something crash against the door. She didn't know how many of them had followed her, but she doubted it would take them long to break through the door.

She backed up and looked up and down the corridor. How would the others know where to find her? What could she do to throw the beasts off of her scent? She was overwhelmed with the urge to get out of there, to somewhere safe and out of reach of her canine pursuers. She looked up and saw sprinkler heads dotted along the ceiling. She had read somewhere that rainy conditions made it harder for wolves to scent their prey. She could hear scrabbling and grating behind the door as she searched for a fire alarm.

She found a smoke alarm next to one of the classroom doors. She pulled out a loose piece of paper she'd found on the floor and lit it with her lighter, and then held the flame up underneath the smoke detector as she put the lighter back in her pocket. She looked nervously back at the classroom door as it splintered when the beasts threw themselves against it.

A beeping alarm went off and the water started cascading down from the ceiling. Erica dropped the paper and ran down a bend to the next corridor as the door definitely started giving in to the onslaught of the beasts. Her steps were a little shorter as she tried not to slip over, but she hurried as much as she could. The double doors to the gym were open, and she could see that it wasn't 'raining' in that room.

Thinking in terms of a weapon, Erica thought she might find a baseball bat or something among the sports equipment. She pushed the doors shut behind her and slid the locks at the top and bottom of the door into place. She was happy to note that there were no windows in the gym, so that any beasts that were still outside wouldn't have easy access to her.

She saw a door marked 'storage' in the wall to the right, and she ran for it. The door was locked, so she broke the opaque window with the hilt of her knife. She never seriously considered using the knife as a weapon, because these creatures were too big and could easily get her with either claws or teeth if she tried to stab them with her little blade. She reached past the glass and yanked the handle from the inside, letting herself into the room.

She flicked on the light and looked around at the shelves. In front of her were all the nets, for soccer and the tennis courts and so on. To the left were all of the playing balls, and safety equipment was on the right, along with all of the other tools like bats and hockey sticks etc. She could hear howling in the corridors outside the gym, and hoped that if they tried to get in the doors would hold out a little longer until she could work out what she was going to do.

She shut the door behind her and tipped over all of the shelves with the playing balls so that they flew onto the floor. She shifted the stands with the nets closer to the door, and put them on an angle so that with only a nudge they would fall forward. She then went to the corner, breaking the lock on a chest with a few whacks from a shot put ball and opened it up to reveal javelins. Perfect.

She put some shin guards on over her jeans – wolves liked to disable their prey as quickly as possible, and legs were a good target as they rendered the victim unable to escape – and she leaned an aluminium baseball bat against the wall next to the door. She stood next to it with a javelin levelled in her hands. She'd already wiped her hands dry on a netball shirt.

In the seconds she had before the beasts busted through the gym's main doors she took deep steadying breaths, and hoped that one of the guys would turn up so that she wouldn't have to do this. She mentally readied herself, crouched down, and tightened her grip on the javelin as she heard the bang and the growling that told her that they were in the gym. She hastily wiped a hand over her forehead to keep water from getting into her eyes and held her breath as she heard them getting closer.

The door busted in and the first beast – a grey furred werewolf – skittered forward, straight into the nets so that they toppled over and encased him. A well aimed shot-put in the head slowed him down, but Erica didn't stab him. She remembered that he was human most of the time, and likely had no control over himself.

The next beast landed on top of its netted companion, and was leaping for Erica before she had time to register what it was. She flinched back as it impaled itself on the javelin, its outstretched claws missing her by the breath of a whisper as it swiped and squealed at the same time. The force of its jump carried the point of the javelin right between its ribs and through to its back. Erica skittered backwards as it still tried to scramble for her. She grabbed another javelin and held it before her as she realised the beast was quickly running out of life.

She was covered in its blood, and it shuddered and wheezed as the wound took its final toll. It became still. She was shaking terribly, partly out of residual fear, and partly out of relief that she'd killed a hellhound, and not a person with a soul. She shut the door again and closed her eyes, sinking against the wall and trying to bring her breathing back to normal. The werewolf seemed to be unconscious.

She had no more plans, and the nets were used up. If something else got in, all she had was the javelin and the bat. She knew that she was incredibly lucky that the last one had rushed unthinkingly at her and impaled itself. No doubt others would smell the blood and be more alert in their approach, but would end up being no less ferocious once they got past her jabs and onto her throat. What if the master had fended off the others and was now looking for fresh human blood? If the guys couldn't protect themselves, what chance did she have? She stifled a sob with the back of her hand.

She jumped when she heard shouting, and recognised her name. She tried answering and found her voice to be quite hoarse and her throat sore – she must have screamed when the hellhound almost got her. She swallowed and tried to yell again, successfully making herself heard. "I'm in here!" she cried out.

The door was shoved open, and it banged into the body of the hellhound. Erica was still sitting against the wall as Spike caught sight of all of the blood. He dodged the body and knelt down beside her so he could assess the damage. Erica shook her head as he pulled her arms up to get a look at them. "It's not mine," she whispered. "I'm okay." She was still shaking. "Is it over?" she asked. "Is everyone all right?"

Spike nodded. "Angel sent me to find you," he explained, and glanced back at the trapped werewolf and the dead hellhound. "You did this yourself?" he asked, as he tried to comfort her by holding her hands. Instead of being cold as death, as she'd expect from a vampire, his hands were warm. Erica nodded.

"I was lucky," she said simply.

"Fights often have a lot to do with luck," Spike said. "Come on, we'd better get your new friend here outside and off to somewhere secure for the rest of the night, and the others 'll be wanting to know you're safe. A couple of those kids need your help, too." He gently pulled her to her feet.

Once she had her balance he let go and started gathering up the ends of the outermost net and twisting them together. He dragged the unconscious werewolf out the door and across the polished floor of the gym.

"What do we do with the dead one?" Erica asked.

"Leave it," Spike said, "the rest of us will take care of it before sun-up. You've done enough tonight."


	12. Cleaning Up

12: Cleaning up

Spike was hauling the werewolf over his shoulder as he led Erica across the grass and back toward the library. Erica had already ditched the shin-guards, which had proved useless apart from keeping her lower legs free of blood. She was tired, wet and covered with blood, but she kept up with Spike and looked around for the others. The window to the library had been broken, and Lawson stood outside of it with a huge furry mass on the ground in front of him. As they got closer Erica saw that it was another werewolf, tied up with the rope that Lawson had had.

It struck her that although she wasn't a werewolf or a vampire, she was a part of their world now. She was never going to be normal again. Like a werewolf, she could act as though she were ordinary for a while, but that would never change the fact that she was different. There was something inside of her that would one day make her change. At least she would become some kind of warrior, and not an uncontrolled monster like these poor people.

The one on the ground was still conscious and straining against the ropes. As Spike got close enough to recognise it he said, "Oh, hell!" He dropped the other werewolf down a few metres away, in case they tried to hurt each other.

"What is it?" Erica asked. Lawson was looking her up and down with some anxiety, but Erica, realising that he too was worried about the blood, shook her head and turned to Spike.

"That's Nina, the boss' girlfriend," he explained, gesturing to the snarling wolf.

"Angel dates a werewolf?" Erica asked, with her eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Apparently, she's a very nice lady – most days of the month," Spike explained. Erica waited a moment to see if he would make the obvious joke, but he didn't.

"They need you inside," Lawson said to Erica. He was still staring at her bloody shirt.

Erica got a little nervous, "Is it safe to be walking around in front of vampires with all of this blood on me?"

"Yeah," Spike said, "you'll be right with us. We got self-control. Demon blood isn't too good for us anyway." Erica noticed that he wasn't really looking at her, and hadn't looked since he'd determined that it wasn't her blood. Lawson got the hint too and busied himself with the werewolf, trying to muzzle it with some remaining rope.

Erica's jacket wasn't as spattered, so she zipped it up over her shirt, trying to ignore the clammy feeling of it against her skin. She got the feeling that she'd been doing the equivalent of walking around alone in dark alleys in a little black dress and heels - tempting danger, even though it wasn't her fault that she'd gotten soaked with blood by the hellhound.

She used the broken window to get into the library and saw the results of the fight. Angel was busy throwing dead hellhounds back down the hole. The summoner's body was on top of a fallen bookcase. She wondered, but didn't ask, where the head was. All of the teenagers were in a corner out of the way, all alive, and most of them with sullen looks on their faces. Books and shelves had been thrown everywhere. The place was a mess.

Angel looked up and nodded toward the group of boys. Erica understood his order and went to see who was hurt. A blonde kid with hair to his shoulders had a long gash down his leg and a redhead had a big bite mark on his arm. The rest were limited to scratches and bruises. She sighed and knelt down beside the blonde, who was bleeding more than the other one.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked. He was one of the scowling boys. Erica blamed the rudeness on the pain he must be in and tried to be nice.

"'Doesn't matter, just sit still and let me help you," she said, pulling her lighter back out of her pocket.

"Hey, hey," the boy cried, looking alarmed. "Don't touch me with any fire!"

"I'm not going to burn you," she said with as much patience as she could muster. After all, it was their fault that she was covered in blood and had almost been eaten. But to be fair, she had wanted to come. "Pass me that candle, would you?" she asked one of the other boys, who was sitting next to a fallen pink candle. He gave it to her and she lit it, putting the lighter back in her pocket. She held the candle up in front of her and recited her Life litany under her breath.

When she felt the tingling start, she put the candle down and leaned forward to give the guy a peck on the cheek. He slapped a hand to his face as he felt the warm tingling. Erica sat back and held her stomach, hoping she wouldn't throw up. In front of everyone's eyes, the blood got sucked back into the wound and it closed.

"Oh, F-k," the boy said in amazement. Erica kept reciting the words in her mind to keep the Life running through her and gave the redhead a kiss too. She blew out the candle as the teeth marks in his arm disappeared. His reaction was a little more subdued; he just gasped.

Erica slowly got to her feet, severely disliking the nausea, but she was able to suppress it. The blonde got up too, testing his leg, which supported him easily. Suddenly he lunged at Erica. "Give me the lighter!" he demanded, his hands at her throat.

Erica didn't think; she reacted. Her hands caught one of his and twisted it at the wrist so he was forced to let go of her. She pulled his arm out straight and twisted so that he bent over. She pulled him closer and kneed him fast and hard in the stomach, and then she let go and gave him an axe kick to the back that dropped him to the floor. None of the other boys had made a move, and the one who seemed to be their leader was now lying in a ball on the floor and moaning. Erica stepped back out of reach in case any of them decided to retaliate.

"Okay, let me list the reasons why that was a stupid idea." Erica was very angry. "One: I just kicked your ass anyway. Two: I've got three vampire bodyguards, who, among other things, saved your life tonight. Three: I just helped you, you ungrateful son of a b-tch, and four: this is a cheap lighter that you can get anywhere, and on its own, it's worthless." The urge to kick the guy when he was down was tempting, but she clenched her fists and resisted it. Belatedly, she thought of the pepper spray that she could have used. She gave a mental shrug and started calming down.

She turned around and saw Angel halfway across the floor and staring at her. No wonder none of the other guys had moved; the vampire had been on his way to help her, but had probably stopped when he'd seen that she was handling it. She looked toward the window and noticed that the other two had seen it too. Spike was leaning against the frame and grinning, and Lawson looked pleased too. Angel's expression was closed, but it wasn't as if she expected any kind of praise from him.

"What else can I do?" Erica asked, taking a few steps away from the boys before turning her back to them.

"Nothing," Angel replied. "Just wait outside with Lawson."

Erica nodded and turned to go.

"And Erica?" Angel added. Erica turned back and listened. "Nice work," he told her.

Erica smiled. "Thanks. You guys can call me Rika if you like." She addressed this to all three, as she knew the other two would have heard her.

888

Cordelia had waited at the office for them, and they got back a few hours before dawn. It took two trips, because they had to take the werewolves back with them as well. Three had been caught alive, including the one Erica netted. One had been severely injured to save the life of one of the kids and had died of its wounds. Two more had gotten away; they'd disappeared into the night when their master had died. They had burned the bodies of the hellhounds, and had cleaned up the blood. The vampires covered over the hole with a spell that Cordelia phoned up with. They had left the rest of the mess, which the authorities would probably attribute to vandals.

"How come no one came when I set off the fire alarm?" Erica asked, while she and Lawson waited at the office for the others to bring back the werewolves. "I mean, like police or firemen?"

"It was after dark during a full moon." Lawson said to her. "Nowadays the cops know better than to get killed. They wait until dawn."

"You mean if somebody was in danger at night it would be useless to call the cops?" Erica asked.

"Only nights like these," Lawson assured her. "Otherwise, they'll do what they can to keep the streets from going to hell. Besides, Angel has given them our number. They'll direct the call to us. Cordelia actually got sent the call tonight when the alarm went off."

"I thought that not a lot of normal people knew about demons and things." Erica asked.

"Up until recently, most people didn't. Things changed when Wolfram and Hart went under. The government and the authorities now know, and so does anyone who has witnessed anything to do with it. There's still a debate going on as to whether or not the public should be informed that they never really knew the world they lived in. Whatever is decided, we will continue to play our part."

When Angel came in he was quiet – not unusual – but Erica could feel the tension stemming from him. She assumed it was because they were carrying the 'boss' girlfriend' back with them, and she wisely decided not to ask questions. She was very tempted to comment when Angel pulled a bunch of chains out from a back room, but she still didn't say anything.

"Lawson?" Angel asked, as he secured Nina.

"Yeah?"

"Take them home please." Angel said, his eyes not leaving the still struggling Nina. "It's been a long night."

Cordy stretched and got up from her desk, and then grabbed her bag. "You might want to start leaving a change of clothes at the office if you work with us," she commented to Erica, whose bloodstains were still partially visible.

Erica was standing in the doorway, looking from one mound of fur to another, and then back to Angel. "I'll be back tomorrow," she said before turning away.

888

It had been a rough few hours before morning. Erica's werewolf woke up and started trying to gnaw through the nets. Nina struggled and howled until Angel tightened her rope muzzle. The third one stayed unconscious until morning. As the sun rose, Angel set down the bell on the desk in front of Nina. He left the room to get her a coat to wear and when he came back he saw the human woman desperately trying to get to the bell.

"It's true," he said when he caught her at it.

Nina immediately stopped and pleaded with her boyfriend as he covered her up, "Please, let me out. I, I don't know what's happened. I thought I was locked up."

"Stop it Nina." Angel ordered. "One of the kids said a blonde woman gave him the bell and the ritual. He described you. I'm guessing you didn't tell him that when the wolf-master rose he would want human sacrifices. Only a werewolf would have known where to find the bell to summon him. It is said that with it, the wolf-master had the power to grant his children the power to turn at any time, and to be stronger than normal. To never be human again, if they chose. Is that what you wanted?"

Nina sighed. "You'd think with a vampire boyfriend I'd get to do something exciting every once in a while. But when the slightest hint of danger arose, you sent me away. I realised I don't want to be with a neutered vampire anymore. I want to _live, _as free and wild as I should be. With you I'd always be caged."

"But you want to hurt people now?"

"They're not like us Angel. They are meat. It just took me this long to realise that I'm above them now."

"What about the other werewolves with you?"

Nina sneered. "Most were new; I don't think they realised they were being summoned. The one you killed was aware, but the others are still learning what they are. What they can be."

"They're innocent." Angel concluded.

"Don't misunderstand me," Nina scoffed. "They've killed, but their pathetic human sides haven't realised it yet. Now are you going to let me up, or keep me tied up forever? You're too noble to hurt me when I'm human, aren't you?"

"Yes," Angel said, as he started loosening the ropes "I won't kill a human."

Nina got to her feet and pulled the coat around her, her mouth stretched into a superior smile. "But if I ever catch you hunting again," Angel warned as she turned for the door, "I will kill you Nina, while you're in your other form and have a fair chance of fighting back. You know what you're doing and you enjoy it. That makes you one of the things I hunt." Nina hesitated, shrugged, and kept walking. "And I'll want my coat back!" Angel called after her as she went out the front door.

He sat down at his desk and buried his head in his hands. He knew that he'd had to let her go, but that didn't mean that it didn't hurt.

"No wonder you've been no fun lately," Spike said from the doorway. "Not that you're a bag of chuckles anyway. Did you know she'd gone AWOL?"

"Shut up, Spike," Angel said.

"No offence meant, big guy." Spike said, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorframe. He was making it clear that he wasn't going anywhere. "Tell me about it."

Angel looked up at him and saw an honest, inquisitive stare. He sighed. "Her mother wrote to me. Nina hadn't chained herself up the last full moon. Her sister disappeared that night and Nina went missing. Her mother found evidence of Nina's research on the wolf-master, and sent it to me. I just didn't know we'd be facing it tonight."

"Cordy can't See everything," Spike said, "the PTB are trying to go easy on her brain. But we should have known that it was important if they sent us after it."

Angel nodded.

"Are you going after her?" Spike asked.

Angel shook his head. "Not yet. It was the third night of the full moon last night. She's got a month to rethink what she's doing, a month trapped with humanity. If she doesn't come around …"

"And you'll want to do it yourself, right?" Spike asked.

Angel paused, then nodded again.

888


	13. A Summer interlude

13: A Summer interlude

She paused in front of the building, a piece of paper clutched in her hand, and the sun streaming down all around her. This was harder than she'd thought it would be. They were both alive. A vampire she had loved and killed, and a vampire that had loved and died for her. And they were both more than Undead now.

"You came to see Angel?" Spike interrupted Buffy from her thoughts. She hadn't even known he was there. She looked at him, and unconsciously thought of another vampire standing in the sunlight with her. She now had proof that he could. She harshly snapped her mind back to confront Spike. She had been under the impression that he was dead, and she realised that she should be trying to deal with that fact first, and fantasize about sunlit strolls with Angel later.

"Well, yeah, I … Spike we…" she was trying so hard to be coherent, but Spike understood her anyway. It had been a year since she'd last seen him, and she'd since moved on and had a relationship with a different supernatural being. That done, she wanted another chance at something she'd constantly been denied. Angel.

"No," Spike said, understanding everything she hadn't said. "You don't have to say anything. You didn't come here for me." He spoke without self-pity or bitterness. "We had something close to love, but it never had time to make the cut." Buffy was silent. Was this a dismissal? His blessing? "I accept what we are, and what we had. If you want to live your life, Slayer, I'll be happy that I shared a piece of it with you."

This was from someone who had been obsessed with her? "Have you found someone else?" Funny, the question hadn't hurt as much as she'd thought it would. But after all, she'd been seeing other people lately too.

Spike looked thoughtful for a moment, an expression she didn't normally associate with him. "Maybe," was all that he would say. He changed the subject. "Angel would love to see you. He's all broody again at the moment."

"Why?" Buffy asked.

"Not my place to tell." Spike said.

Buffy was surprised. She thought that Spike hated Angel, but he was actually showing some respect for him. Maybe Life had changed him.

"Okay," she said, and walked toward the front doors. "Thanks," she added as he turned to leave. Spike gave her a nod but kept going, putting his hands in his pockets and walking away.

888

Angel had always been able to tell when Buffy was around, and he knew it now too. He looked up as she walked toward his office. He was standing up as she made it to his door and knocked on the frame.

"Come in," he said, walking to the front of his desk and leaning against it. "What brings you here?"

"Giles, actually." Buffy answered. "He said he had information for you." She handed him the folded piece of paper. "You're not just supposed to protect the new girl. You have to help her become a fighter. She will be tested by the higher powers in a few years, and if she's not ready then she won't survive."

Angel silently took the paper and left it on his desk. "Giles had my number. He could have told me over the phone," he pointed out.

Buffy looked a little embarrassed. "Well, I wanted to see you, see if it was true."

"That I'm human?"

Buffy nodded.

"I'm not fully human." Angel admitted. "More like a vampire without any of his weaknesses, or a human with all the strengths of a vampire."

"Oh," Buffy said. "But that's still good."

"Yeah," Angel agreed, "I don't have a curse anymore. I'm fully souled forever."

Buffy's eyes widened. The curse had been the only thing that had kept him from her. "So … what are you going to do now?" she asked.

"Right now? I'm going to go for a walk. It's a nice day outside. Come with me, and show me what it's like in summer." He stood up straight, and took Buffy's hand when it was offered to him.

888

Buffy had to go back to Cleveland, but not before she'd shown Angel what it was like to make out under the shade of a tree in the park. They were finally back together, but they had work to do in different states. Life wasn't completely fair, but it seemed to be as good as it got right then. They may have had to be apart for the time being, but emotionally they were together.

Buffy took the latest bus back to Ohio that she could, and Angel walked back to his office. Erica had been waiting outside, apparently for him. The werewolves were long gone - Spike had set them free that morning with some advice about what they were.

"Angel, wait." Erica said as he led her inside. "Look, just because last night didn't go exactly to plan and I got into trouble, does that mean you're going to object to me coming on the hunt with you again?"

"You almost died," Angel said as they walked toward his office, "doesn't that frighten you?"

"Well, yeah," Erica admitted, "I'd have to be brainless not to be afraid, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let it stop me. My alternative is to hide under my bed for the rest of my life and hope that the world will get better on its own, but it won't, so that can't be an option for me."

"Why are you so sure of that?" Angel asked, sitting down behind his desk and inconspicuously removing the piece of paper that Giles had sent.

"The night before last I had a dream," Erica explained, sitting in a cushioned chair opposite him, "and it showed me what has been done to me, and a little bit about why it was done. The world isn't going to get better without people like us, who were chosen to help it. I never had a choice in the matter but whether I like it or not I am in this now and I have to learn how to look after myself. It's why I volunteered for the hunt."

"In answer to your question," Angel said slowly, "No, I'm not going to stop you. I know you'll be as careful as you can; you're not stupid or reckless, and you're not a child. I know that Spike, Lawson and I aren't here to keep you away from danger, but to help you survive it until you can do it on your own. And I will help you learn what you need."

"Good," Erica said with relief. "Because ever since I met you I've felt like it's me against you whenever 'what's best for me' is concerned. You're not my keeper, and I don't want to be your burden."

Angel gave slight nod. "How about partners then? I won't give you orders as long as we listen to each other."

Erica smiled. "Sure. Partners." She thought for a moment. "I guess I'll have to turn down that waitressing job."

"I can pay you for working for… _with_ me." Angel offered.

"Nah," Erica smiled, "this is already a paid job. My editor went nuts when I sent her the story about the haunted school and the vampires. She wants me to start up a series of supernatural stories. And it will be easy getting the material for it if I work with you."

"Oh," Angel said. "How closely are you basing this on what we do?"

"Names changed, occasional embellishments and a few things I make up to fill in the plot holes."

"How'd you explain the help of the vampires?" Angel was interested.

"They were all terrible killers in their past and were punished for it. They were cursed to protect a mortal who was herself cursed: to always be in danger. I'm still working out the specifics." Erica explained. "One day you or Cordy will have to tell me why you're really doing all this for me, but I'm happy to leave it for now."

888

**AN: Okay, here are the rules. **

**This is not going to become an Angel/Buffy epic. I will keep them together, but at best she will only 'guest star' in this fic.**

**Neither will this become a Spike/Erica epic, or a Cordelia/Lawson epic (I think I already explained that).**

**Though it will include some romance (to the best of my writing ability), this story is primarily about Erica's journey to become the Guardian of the Midrealm. Got it?**

**You want to be saturated with soppiness? Try Mills and Boon. I'm partial to romances myself, but I just don't feel comfortable writing them. Well, not at the moment anyway.**


	14. A night out

**AN: I had started writing chapter 15 before I'd even finished the first part, because (again), it is loosely based on a dream that I actually had in 2004. If anyone enjoyed the last dream, I'll put this one in (later on) as well. **

**As for continuing this fic … I'm kind of torn between getting another chapter of 'Blade: Sire's Return' up or writing this one. That's probably why you start seeing similarities between my female characters.**

**Note: I'm not sure what the drinking age would be in the US, but in Australia it's 18.**

**Anyway, my standard disclaimer is that I don't own the Buffy Universe, or any of Joss Whedon's creations. And as promised, a teensy bit more romance for this chapter.**

* * *

The blood of the ancients: Part 3

**Off the beaten path**

* * *

14: A night out

As promised, Cordelia found herself sitting in a nice restaurant a few nights after Lawson had 'asked' her out to dinner. He had been the perfect gentleman, holding doors and chairs for her. There seemed to be definite perks to dating an older man, especially one who was still incredibly well preserved for his age. He was charming, polite and generous. He listened with great interest when she told him a few things about her time at Sunnydale High. She could be honest with him about any odd occurrence she'd encountered, which she obviously couldn't do with a normal boyfriend.

Sam hadn't known Cordelia during the time she had previously worked for Angel Investigations, so there was nothing he could tell her that might upset her. Knowing this, Cordelia asked him several questions. "So what's your story on the half-soul thing? I know you've got a good one now, but I've never even heard of a half-soul."

"Angel did it," Lawson answered.

"How?" Cordelia asked.

"He had a soul when he made me. The demon in me tried to take mine, like in all vampires, but didn't fully succeed because of Angel's soul. Angel wouldn't have even turned me except that he needed my help to fix a submarine and save the lives of my crewmen, and I was kind of bleeding to death at the time."

"Oh, wow. I didn't know that Angel made you," Cordelia said, "but that means all three of you are kind of related."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, Angel made the vampire that made Spike. He's like his grandsire or something. I guess it wouldn't be a coincidence that all three of you ended up with souls and working on the same mission."

"Probably not," Lawson agreed. "The other vampire was a woman named Drusilla, right?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"I did a lot of research on Angel and his activities as Angelus before I tracked him down. I didn't study too much about Drusilla, but I know that she was crazy because of what Angelus did, and that she was a Seer too."

"Yeah, she almost sent us all to hell one time, but really, what was a week in Sunnydale that didn't hold the risk of horrible death? A really good, practically non-existent week, that's what."

Lawson chuckled. "But you got through it."

"No," Cordelia said shortly.

"You didn't get through it?" Lawson asked with some confusion.

"Aaagh," Cordelia said, trying as hard as she could to keep her voice down. She clutched her head and gritted her teeth.

"Ice cream headache," Lawson said to a waiter who was coming up to see what the problem was.

When Cordelia's headache receded she realised that Lawson had moved next to her and was holding one of her hands. "Do you want to go back to the apartment or the office?" he asked.

"No," Cordelia said, going through her purse for her trusty painkillers. "It will be okay."

"No one will need our help in the immediate future?" Lawson asked.

Cordelia shook her head. "Rika needs to learn how to bridge the dimensions. The Powers just showed me how she's supposed to do it."

"Oh." Lawson reached up to run his fingers over her forehead. Cordelia closed her eyes and let him try to soothe her.

"She's busy tonight," Cordelia said, her eyes still closed. "We'll get her to try it tomorrow. Besides, we didn't come here to talk about Erica."

888

Erica aimed and fired. A crossbow bolt thudded into the middle of the mattress at the other end of the garden. It had missed the picture of a heart that was pinned at about chest-height.

"Higher." Spike said, standing a safe distance to one side. "'Close' isn't good enough; they'll keep coming until you kill 'em."

Erica nodded and reloaded the crossbow like she had been shown. She was wearing jeans and sneakers again, but her blue jacket was still a little, well, bloody. She was wearing a red sweater instead. She decided that she'd start buying red and black clothes from now on, to hide the stains. Her hair was partly tied back with a white scrunchie, and she was wearing hoop earrings. She was looking nice because she'd had multimedia class before her training session with Spike.

"Take it slow for now," Spike advised her. "Once you've got accuracy we'll work on your speed."

"I wish we had an outside light," Erica said.

"Well," Spike told her, "vampires tend to hunt in the dark. You'll get used to it."

A few shots later Erica had the hang of accuracy, even though she couldn't see the target quite clearly. She took a step backward.

"After firing always go straight for your next bolt," Spike said as Erica reloaded. "Even if you kill that one you might need a quick second shot. A little bit faster now." Erica had already drilled herself in loading the crossbow without firing it; she was getting a rhythm to it. With practice, she would start reloading it without thought. The next bolt was in place and Erica raised the crossbow. She hesitated only a moment to check her aim and fired. Again, the heart was hit.

"Good." Spike told her. "How about the real thing?"

"Tonight?" Erica asked.

"Sure. There's plenty of time before sun-up." Spike took a stake from within his jacket and handed it to her. "Keep that with you."

"It's true then," Erica commented as she put it in a shoulder bag, "vampires get killed by a hunk of wood in the heart."

"Yeah," Spike said with a little smile, "that'll kill a lot of things. Come on, Rika."

"Aren't we going to get one of the other guys?" Erica asked. "I know Lawson's not free, but we might be able to find Angel."

"Don't worry," Spike said. "I won't let nothing happen to you. Oh, and I got you this." He pulled out a chain from his pocket. A silver cross dangled from it. Spike didn't even wince, but he assured Erica that it would work on true vampires.

"Thanks," Erica said, putting it around her neck. She had a full-sized wooden cross in her bag as well as the knife and the pepper-spray that she had already been given. She picked up the bag and put it over her shoulder. The crossbow was too big for the bag, so she carried it, not loaded, with the bolts in the bag.

Spike had a car that he'd 'requisitioned' from Wolfram and Hart before the company was destroyed. It was a company car, so it was black but it wasn't a classic like Angel's car. Not that Spike wanted his car to be like Angel's. Erica threw her bag and the crossbow onto the back seat, but took out the stake and held it on her lap. She turned it in her hands while they drove, trying to get a feel for the weight and the shape. She was trying to imagine herself shoving it through someone's chest.

They stopped at a church first, and filled a couple of bottles from one of the indoor basins. The priest gave Spike a strange look, but gave Erica an approving nod. He was familiar with the concept of slayers. He didn't say anything to them and they left quickly.

"So what are we looking for?" Erica asked, as Spike drove around near some alleys.

"A couple of lone vamps would be good," Spike said, "I don't want to throw you into a melee situation if we find a nest."

"That makes two of us," Erica agreed. "So how do you hunt a vampire?"

"If you're looking for a predator, the best way to find them is to track down the prey." He pulled up outside a seedy-looking nightclub. "Either that, or find their resting place. If you have to deal with a nest that way, the safest thing to do is wait until sun-up. Oh, yeah," Spike said, remembering another last-minute tip as he got out of the car, "if you're close to 'em when they turn to dust, hold your breath and close your eyes for a second."

"They really turn to dust?" Erica said with a little smile. "Cool."

"Yeah, it makes cleaning up after a fight a lot easier."

"We're not going to kill anything while we're in there, are we?" Erica said, gesturing inside the club.

"Nope, if this is a human club, the vampires won't make their move until they bring their victim outside and away from witnesses."

"Well I can't take a crucifix or a crossbow in there," Erica said.

"You're right." Spike said. "Keep the stake inside your sweater and put one of the smaller bottles in your pocket, even though you should be okay while we're inside. We'll grab the rest on our way out."

"So how are we going to work this?" Erica asked, while sorting out the stake. "I mean, are you going to show me the kill or are you going to give me a chance and just stay close at hand if I need help."

"You've already seen us fighting," Spike said, "and you're not helpless. If you think you're ready, you can take this. You're not afraid of a few scrapes and bruises are you?"

Erica shook her head.

"Then you can do the fight close or long-range; your choice," Spike said, "and I'll only step in if you ask for it or if I think you need it."

"Okay," Erica said. "But you'll have to point one out for me. I still can't tell the difference while their faces are normal."

"Come on," he held an arm out for her, "you've got ID don't you?"

"Uh huh," she answered, putting his arm around her shoulder so that they looked like a normal couple going into a club.

888

The music was loud and upbeat. Erica wondered how she'd even be able to think straight enough to pick out a vampire, even if she could tell them apart. She saw one woman who was extremely pale, but that was because of Goth make-up and black clothes.

Spike left her at the bar and waded through the throng. He was going to nod at her when he'd found someone who was cold-blooded among the heat of dancing bodies. They'd watch him or her until they decided to leave, and then Erica would hunt the hunter.

"You want something?" the bartender asked her.

"Uh, just a coke thanks," Erica said, and handed over some money. She didn't think that it was a good idea to drink if she was soon to take on something a lot stronger than her. She'd need her wits, balance and speed. She looked around and decided she wouldn't want to come to a club like this on a real date. There were a few skanky looking women around, as well a few conceited, lecherous-looking guys. Not everyone looked that bad, but it was kind of obvious that they let anyone over eighteen in here.

"I'm sorry," said a young man who took a seat beside her, "this is going to sound so corny, but what is a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?" He was one of the ones that didn't look so bad. Short brown hair, blue eyes and a navy blue button-up shirt with jeans.

"Just wondering the same thing, actually," Erica replied with a smile. "I'm … kind of new in town, and I guess I picked the wrong bar." She gave a nervous chuckle and surreptitiously glanced around the room. She saw Spike nod at her, his eyes wide; trying to get a message to her. A glance at the shiny silver napkin holder on the bar told her that there was no man sitting next to her. She reached up as if to play with her chain, but she was making sure that the cross was still tucked inside her sweater. She didn't want to give the game away too soon.

"My name is James," the guy said to her. "And I know somewhere a bit nicer than this. Less crowded, better music. Would you … like to get out of this place?" He was acting amiably, but he was pretty confident; he hadn't even asked her what her name was, but he was sure that she'd go with him.

Erica raised her eyebrows. She was sure that Spike hadn't meant for _her_ to be the victim that drew the vampire out of the bar, but this would also mean no bystanders to get in the way. "Well…" she said, glancing around again. She caught Spike's eyes and he gave her a tiny nod. He had said that it was her choice how she did this fight. He started making his way toward the exit. "Just let me finish my drink," she stalled, giving another smile to James.

"Sure," James said. "Rum and Coke?"

"Yeah," Erica answered, taking a few more sips from her glass. It wouldn't hurt to let him think that she was getting tipsy. She was actually hoping for a bit of a sugar rush. Anything that gave her more energy couldn't hurt.

She tried not to make it obvious, but she glanced over his frame and checked things like how big he was, what kind of reach he would have with his arms and legs, and which was his preferred hand, and judging by the beer he held it was his right. All of her instincts from her various self-defence classes were kicking in. She kept her smile on her face so that he would think she was just checking him out.

She put the glass on the bar when it was nearly empty and nodded at James. He got up and held out his hand. It wasn't that cold, but Erica had thought there was a noticeable difference in body temperatures where vampires were concerned. A normal girl might think his hand was a bit clammy because of the glass he'd been holding. He led her outside and she took a deep breath.

"What?" he asked with a little smile.

"Nothing," Erica replied, "Just taking a breath of free air."

"Yeah," James chuckled, "it is a bit of a dive in there. Look, the club's not far. Do you want to walk?"

Erica looked around, not sure if Spike was near. James must have taken her hesitation for nervousness and said quickly, "I won't let anything bad happen to you. Scout's honour."

Erica smiled. "Only if it's not far. Which way?"

"This way," James said with a quiet smile. He was sure he had her. He led her around a corner and stopped looking at her. They were now out of sight of witnesses. He took her further around the side of the building and Erica used her free hand to pull her cross out of her sweater and to then pull out the stake to hold at her side.

Abruptly, James shoved her against the wall and looked at her face. His own face had changed. It was like his forehead had expanded and his lips had been stretched back to show his fangs. His eyes were yellow and feral. "You sure picked a bad neighbourhood tonight, honey," he rasped around his elongated canines.

Suddenly, strangely enough, Erica felt as though she was in a major exam. If she did this, if she survived it then she passed. If Spike had to save her life she would stay a Learner Slayer or something like that for ages. _If_ Spike was around to save her life.

James' hand came up to push her against the wall but he yanked it back with a hiss. He had touched her cross without knowing it and now he looked down to see what it was that had burned him. Erica grabbed his shoulders and kneed him in the groin, and then gave him an elbow strike to the temple. She ducked when he swung at her, making him ram his fist into the wall behind her.

She sidestepped so that she wasn't trapped between him and the wall. He kicked at her and she crouched under it, swiping his feet out from under him with her own kick. He fell on his front and she quickly rammed her stake down into his unprotected back with both hands. She covered her eyes just as he turned to dust, and she heard the clink of wood hitting cement.

She got up and looked around. James was really dust. She brushed some of it off her sweater and picked up the stake. "Up here," she heard, and looked up to see Spike on top of the two-storey building. He had been watching to make sure she didn't get killed.

Erica made a pretend sound of disappointment to cover her nerves. "I didn't even get to use the crossbow," she said, and Spike smiled at her. He jumped down and walked closer to her. "That was, uh," Erica said, looking around, "exciting, I guess." She smiled at Spike, her breathing and her heart-rate slowly returning to normal.

"You liked that?" Spike asked with a grin.

"Well," Erica said, shrugging her shoulders, "when I win, I guess I do." She looked down and tried to get some more dust off her sweater. She looked up and said, "I mean it was scary, but yeah, it was kind of a rush. God, does that happen all of the time?"

"The adrenalin?" Spike asked.

"No," Erica shook her head, her expression more serious, "people getting picked off in bars and night-clubs."

"In cities like this it does," Spike answered, giving a general look around the alleyway. "But that's why people need folk like us."

"Yeah," Erica agreed, "but next time you get to be the bait and I'll stand back and make sure you don't get your butt kicked." She raised her eyebrows and grinned.

"But I don't make half as good a bait as you would," Spike protested with a teasing smile. They started walking back toward the car.

"What? Because I'm all human?" Erica asked. "Or because I'm a girl?" she challenged. Her tone was light-hearted, but she was curious about who vampires liked to prey on.

"Well, that too," Spike answered, "but you were also the sweetest looking thing in the bar. No wonder the guy wanted to eat you up; everyone else just looked nasty next to you."

They were next to the car and Erica stopped, her hand resting on the handle. "Okay, I'm either going to be creeped out or flattered by that. 'Wants to eat me': what a charming phrase." She chuckled and got in the car.

**AN: There you go. A nice long chapter with some action in it to make up for not updating for a little while. Thanks to anyone who read my little 'Monique' story, and I'm still working on the next Blade chapter.**


	15. Her first portal

15: Her first portal

Cordelia left it until the next morning to mention anything about her vision to Erica. Erica didn't mention her little outing to the others either. Her red sweater and her jeans were in the wash, so she was wearing a light grey tracksuit over a little green tank top, with a different pair of sneakers.

Lawson escorted them both down to the office after breakfast, and then went to take on a different case. Angel was waiting in the foyer on a couch, with a newspaper in his hands.

"You've been really quiet this morning," Erica said to Cordelia, once Lawson had left.

"You're going to have to try something very difficult today," Cordelia said. "The Powers want you to learn how to bridge the realities."

"In English?"

"Create a portal to another dimension."

"Oh, okay, is that all?" Erica asked with one eyebrow raised.

"You can do it," Cordelia insisted. "You can bridge the gap between realities, create gateways."

"I don't think I'm ready for that," Erica said, shaking her head.

"You're never going to get ready unless you practice." Cordelia reasoned.

"I don't even know where I'm trying to go, or how I'm going to get there."

"You've got the blood of the ancients running through you," Cordelia assured her. "You can't be hurt in the attempt. And I sort of got the Cliff notes – in my vision – on how to do it. Besides, this first time, we're not going to try and go to another dimension or anything, just to a different place on this world. You could just go across the room, or maybe you could try going back to Australia."

"Trying to get rid of me already?" Erica asked with a smile.

"Uh, don't go back to Australia unless you can take us with you," Angel interrupted as he scanned the front page for the usual: murders, disappearances, and unexplained phenomena. He wasn't taking the reality-bridging thing very seriously. Cordelia had already given him a summary of her vision on the phone the night before.

"Look," Cordelia said, ignoring Angel, "you've already got this in you. If you don't learn to use it, then one day someone else might come along and figure out how to take it from you. Trust me, you don't want that to happen, so lets just learn how to do it now. It might be useful later on."

"Fine," Erica said reluctantly. "Will this have something to do with another key?"

"Yep," Cordelia said. "This one is water."

"How much?" Erica asked.

"Eventually, as you learn to draw on the magic inside you, only a drop will do it, but for now I think it will be easier with, like, a bucket full of it."

"What will I have to understand about it?" Erica asked.

"That in another realm, which is like the control centre for all of the other realms, all of the different realities are represented as pools of water. They can be connected, like rivers to lakes. The rivers are the bridges between realities, but you have to make them into portals so that you can travel through them."

"With the water?"

"Right."

"I visualise all of that, even though we're not leaving this reality this time?"

"Yeah. And for now, it's just you going through. It could be dangerous for anyone else until you can control it all properly. It's possible to send others to different realities at once, or to not fully bring them out of this one first, but that usually means they get split apart. Obviously, not good."

Erica raised her eyebrows. "Ugh," she said simply. "So I'm on my own."

"Just for the few seconds between portals, and then you'll be back with us." Cordelia assured her.

"All right." Erica said, shrugging her shoulders before getting up to head to the staff bathroom just off the kitchens. It wasn't far from the foyer. She came back wheeling a mop bucket full of water, being careful not to slosh it over the sides.

"I'm going to help you," Cordelia said, taking a few steps back. "Take it to the other end of the room." Erica did as she was told. "Focus on me," Cordelia instructed, standing at the opposite end of the room. "Concentrate on ending up next to me, and visualise which way you're going to be facing, how high off the floor you'll be; everything. Imagine you're seeing me in that water. Imagine that a little piece of the essence of Life is in there too, making it powerful."

"And then?" Erica asked.

"When you can actually see me, draw the water up into a portal, big enough to step through. Then you can step into it and go where you've made it go."

"Draw it up with what?"

"Your hands, but you have to concentrate with your mind as well. Imagine those pools of reality."

Erica took a deep breath and did her best to empty her mind of all distractions. She knelt over the bucket, glanced back at Cordy, and then looked into the water. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and then opened them, her forehead furrowed in concentration. She thought she saw something and kept focussing on the image as it became clearer, willing it to form into the place she wanted to go to. Without anything touching it the water rippled. Instinctively knowing that it was the right time, Erica dipped her fingers into the water and drew them out. A stream of water followed her hand as she drew a wide circle with her fingers.

Angel put down the paper and took notice.

Erica kept moving her hand in the circle as she made the water spiral inwards until there was a solid circle of … it wasn't water anymore. It was swirling rapidly inwards and away from her. She could see different coloured swirls and occasional streaks of light flowing through the spiral, as quickly as if a giant with a straw was sucking it into another place. The last of the water detached itself from her hand and swirled into the portal she had made. Her hand was dry now.

Erica still had her hand outstretched, and she got to her feet. She could feel a breeze going past her. She could hear nothing but the sucking sound of the portal's energy, although it wasn't that loud. She was simply so focussed on what she had done that everything else had been drowned out by her concentration. She took a breath and leaned forward.

"Aaagh," Cordelia bent over and covered her head, her brain pounding with a vision.

"Cordy?" Erica asked with concern, halfway through the portal. It shimmered and wavered as she was pulled the rest of the way through. The portal closed behind her, leaving nothing but empty air and a bucket on the ground. She did not re-emerge within the room.

Angel pulled Cordelia over to one of the couches and sat her down. His gaze kept switching from the Seer's face to searching around the room. Nothing he saw lessened his concern.

"Cordelia, what is it?" he asked.

"It's going to be bad, Angel," Cordelia said when she caught her breath.

"What is it?" Angel said as gently as he could while feeling uneasy. "Do you know where Erica went?"

"Oh, it's ok, the higher powers will help send her back as soon as they find her," Cordelia said, "but I saw how she will be tested."

"How?"

"You," Cordelia said, meeting his eyes with a serious stare. "Angelus. She won't have to kill you, but her three protectors will lose their souls and humanities and become her hunters, trapped with her in some otherworldly battleground. If she can survive the tests with everything she's learned, you can go back to how you were, but …"

"We might kill her," Angel finished.

"You can prepare her for fighting vampires, you can even let her learn what you were like before the curse, but you're not allowed to tell her that one day you'll turn on her."

"Then why did you get the vision?" Angel asked.

"They want you to give her the best chance possible to survive, but they want her to be able to figure things out on her own, and to be able to improvise if pressured. Being Protector of the Midrealm is not an easy gig; she's got to earn it. You won't be the only test. It'll be hard, but not impossible for her to win. They will give her chances to learn what to do, to get prepared, before they decide to test her. They want her to win but that doesn't mean they're allowed to make it easy for her."

"How long do we have?" Angel asked, sitting on the couch beside her.

"More than a year, less than ten," Cordy answered. "After the tests she can hang around in this realm for a while until she ascends. And after the tests, we're free of our promise to guide her."

"You promised too?" Angel asked. "I thought you were just sent here."

"No, I was given the choice too. But you got asked by future Erica, right?"

"Yeah,"

"Well, I was already in contact with the PTB, so they asked me directly."

"What happens to you when we're finished."

"I can choose to keep the visions if I want," Cordelia answered, "or not and stay mortal, or I can go back to wherever I was before they asked me. I figure I'll make that choice when I come to it."

"Can we tell Lawson and Spike about the tests?" Angel asked.

"Yeah, but if you try to tell Erica about it the PTB won't let her hear you, or anyone else who tries to tell her. She will start to get stronger before then, but once she passes the tests she'll be rewarded with full slayer abilities and greater control over her Protector-related power."

"When will she be back?" Angel asked.

"That depends on where she went," Cordelia answered, looking over to where the girl had disappeared.

**AN: No Seers or Vessels of Power were harmed in the making of this chapter.**

888

Erica wanted to throw up. Everything in her body told her that something had gone wrong. She knew she'd lost her concentration, and that was a bad thing. Cordy had told her that she couldn't be hurt in the attempt, but what about her nausea, and what about where she would end up? She had no illusions that once she was out of the portal she could be harmed by something within whatever reality she got to.

Her eyes were closed against the light, but she could still see the swirling blue patterns of the portal walls rushing past her; the energy within the waves skimming and dancing over her skin like static electricity. Her hair was pushed back as though she was caught in strong winds, and the air was thin, but breathable.

Cordy had said a few seconds, but it seemed to be taking forever. Judging from the portal walls, she felt like she was lying on her side with her feet pointed where she had come from, but it was impossible to be sure about which way she was oriented. The portal could have been going straight up as far as she knew. The energy in the waves seemed to be holding her up in the centre of the passageway, so she wasn't touching the walls as she travelled.

Looking ahead and back, she could only see more of the portal. She couldn't see past the portal walls, but her best guess was that she was travelling somewhere between worlds, like Cordy had said. Every few moments she felt a jolt in her body and in the portal walls around her. She had felt herself turn in reality a few times, as though the portal was trying to decide on a suitable destination, and each time it felt as though her organs had been shoved back against her spine with the momentum. Where was she going?

Suddenly the portal convulsed and spat her out. "Aah," Erica yelped as she was dumped to the floor on her hands and knees. There were pale blue tiles beneath her palms and she could smell antiseptic. She took deep, slow breaths with her eyes closed until the nausea passed. Out of the corner of her eyes she had seen the sheets of a hospital bed to her left and a light blue curtain to the right.

She pushed herself to her feet and gave her head a small shake. She was feeling more normal again. Well, not that there was anything normal about being sucked into a portal to another world. But where she was didn't seem so otherworldly, especially because she saw a familiar face.

"Cordelia?"

Erica reached out to touch the figure lying on the bed. Cordelia's hands and feet were restrained, and she stared blankly ahead of her. She looked half-dead. She moaned softly and Erica put a hand to her forehead. "Cordy? What's wrong?"

Cordelia didn't respond or react in any way, and Erica realised that she couldn't. Something terrible had happened to her. Erica checked the chart at the foot of the bed. She was being prescribed painkillers and tranquillisers. Whatever had happened to her was hurting her.

"Okay," Erica whispered. She put a hand in her pocket and pulled out the lighter that she always carried with her. "I don't know how I got here or why you're like this now, but I'm going to help you."

Erica always used the same words to invoke the healing power, and as she looked at the flame and ran the words through her mind she felt the tingling start more rapidly. Cordy had said that it would get easier with practice. Eventually she wouldn't need the flame; the power would stop returning to dormancy like it did while she was still learning to evoke it. Eventually she wouldn't need the kiss either; she would be able to channel it and control it with a thought.

Erica leaned forward to kiss Cordelia's cheek and was thrown back at the next moment by some unseen force. Something powerful was at work here; fighting her efforts to help. She had hit the floor and rolled to take the force out of her landing. She got to her feet and rubbed her right arm, which had taken most of the force of the fall.

She was feeling the queasy sensation that usually accompanied healing, so Erica was hopeful that she had at least been able to do some good. Cordelia was still out of it, but now her eyes were closed. Erica wanted to take it as a good sign, but she was painfully aware that she didn't know anything about what was going on. All she had was hope.

"Excuse me," someone had drawn the curtains aside and was looking at her suspiciously. It took her a moment to place the face, but she did know him from somewhere.

"Oh," she said suddenly, "you're Gunn, right?"

"Who's askin'?" he said with a frown.

"It's me, Erica," she answered. "Erica Winters. We met at Wesley's funeral."

"I ain't never met you," Gunn said with a suspicious scowl. "And Wesley's alive."

"What?" Erica asked, "He was buried about a week ago and I …" It suddenly occurred to her that maybe she wasn't in the LA that she knew. "I could be mistaken … how did Cordelia get here?" she asked. "What's wrong with her?"

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Gunn said coldly. "Visiting hours are over."

"I'm not going to hurt-" Erica started arguing.

"Leave." Gunn ordered.

Erica took a step back. "If you see Angel," she said, "tell him that I'm looking for him. If he doesn't know who I am, then just tell him that I need his help, and I don't know who else to turn to."

Gunn didn't say anything, so Erica went past him and out into the hallway. She followed the exit signs out of the hospital and stood out on the street. She felt so lost. She knew she couldn't just stand there, so she started walking.


	16. The wrong crowd

16: The wrong crowd

The office was abandoned, boarded up. It looked as if no one had been there for years.

Erica had two theories about what was going on. Either she was in some kind of parallel dimension where she didn't live here and something had happened to make Cordy hurt and Wesley survive, or, just as weird, she was still in her own reality but she'd gone back to a time where, again, Cordy was hurt, Wesley hadn't died yet and therefore she couldn't have met Gunn at the funeral. Either way, it meant that everyone she had known here wouldn't know who she was.

Operating on the second theory – because she didn't know what else to do – Erica tracked down the office where Angel had said that he, Spike, Gunn and Wesley had worked at. She flexed her arm to make sure that it was working without pain and stepped through the entrance doors. It was nighttime, but there were still a few businessmen walking through the reception area, as well as one or two hooded people who Erica assumed must be less-than-human clients.

They had security personnel dotted around the room, and a couple of them gave her strange looks. Erica gave a nervous sigh. "You won't know until you ask," she muttered to herself. She walked over to the front desk, where a man in a grey suit, white shirt and green striped tie sat staring into a computer screen. He smiled brightly at her when she approached. There was something unnerving about the smile, but Erica forced herself to withhold comment.

"Welcome to Wolfram and Hart," the man said, "How can I help you?" His tone of voice sounded rehearsed and … _off _somehow. There was something about the way he sat, the way he moved and smiled, it just gave her the feeling that he wasn't quite normal.

"Hi," Erica said casually, "I'm looking for someone, and he … he mentioned this place, but I'm not sure if he was an employee or a client."

"I'm afraid we can't give out information on clients but I can give you his business number if he is an employee," the man said. "What is his name?"

"Angel," Erica said.

"Last name?"

"Actually, I don't know." Erica gave a weak chuckle. "I'm not even sure if he has a last name. He's kind of …. not normal, but I guess you understand that in a place like this." Erica took a chance and revealed that she knew that the law firm didn't just cater to human clients.

Something in the man's smile and in his eyes wavered, but in the next second he was smiling brightly again. "I'm sorry, but the name Angel is not listed as either a client or an employee."

"You didn't even look it up," Erica pointed out. The man kept smiling at her, but there was nothing in his eyes that indicated he had heard her. "Uhh," she said, wondering if he was really human, "thanks anyway." She took a few steps away.

There was a commotion outside of the door. Erica turned and saw that a couple of guards were escorting a man inside who was hissing and wheezing with pain. Erica felt a stab of compassion mixed with distress when she saw the blood dripping to the floor. He was cradling his right arm with his back hunched over his injury protectively, and his face was streaked with sweat from the agony.

"Wait!" she yelled out, running toward them. One of the guards went for his nightstick, but Erica quickly said, "I can help. Please, let me help."

The man looked up at her through a haze of hurt and suffering. One of the guards grabbed her shoulder as the man saw how distressed and concerned she looked. "Let her go," he said thickly, forcing out the words.

"Hold this," Erica ordered the guard who had grabbed her, handing him her lighter. "Light it, and hold it within my sight." She put a hand on the man's shoulder. "What's your name?" she asked as she waited for the guard to follow her instructions.

"Lindsey," he replied.

"This won't hurt, Lindsey" she said, as the flame flickered into life. She had found that the words she used to heal always soothed her when she thought of them, whether she was actually healing or not, so she whispered them aloud so that the man could hear her. "The fire represents life. Life began with fire, fire means life, and life means healing. Fire is the key to healing." She brushed his hair away from his face and kissed him on his left cheekbone.

A moment later Erica stumbled a little and Lindsey automatically reached out to grab her. His fingers closed over the cloth of her tracksuit top, and it seemed to take him a few seconds to fully register that he had grabbed her with both hands. He straightened up as the look of pain left his face.

"Are you all right?" he asked the girl, still holding onto her in case she should fall.

"Queasy," she said shortly, "but it'll be gone in a moment. You can let the flame go out now," she said to the guard. The guard quickly let go, staring in wonder at the lighter. Lindsey started flexing his new hand, and Erica smiled at him. "How does it feel?" she asked.

"After what I was just feeling, it's wonderful ," he said. "How did you do that?"

"You saw it." Erica said. "The fire represented life, which was a trigger to the healing, and the kiss was a sign of affection, which directed the healing to you. Can I have that back now?" she asked the guard.

"Wait," Lindsey said, "what else can you do with that lighter?"

"It's not the lighter; it's just fire," Erica said with a shrug, and she took a step away from Lindsey now that she was feeling better. He let go of her arms. "It triggers something inside me; something powerful that I can direct toward healing. But I don't know what else I can do."

"Really?" Lindsey asked.

"Uh huh," Erica lied. She didn't want to try and explain something she didn't understand herself. She instinctively wanted to keep the portals a secret anyway, even from the nice looking young man that she had helped.

"Lindsey, what is going on here?" An elevator had opened and an older man walked out followed by a young woman.

"Everything's fine, sir," Lindsey replied.

"But the call we got said that Angel cut off your hand," the man insisted, "and you're _fine_?"

Lindsey held up both hands for his boss to see. "That I am," he said with confidence, "and we may have a new client here; a healer." He looked to see that Erica was slowly starting to back away toward the doors. She looked troubled. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Erica swallowed. "I thought you did it in an accident … why would he cut off your hand?"

"Do you know him?" Lindsey asked her.

"I thought maybe he worked here," Erica said, before she thought about what she was admitting, "but I was mistaken. Excuse me." She tried to walk away. The older man signalled to a guard who grabbed her arm. "Let me go!" she said loudly. The guard's grip on her arm tightened painfully as the second guard approached her.

"Hold on," Lindsey said, "There's no problem here," he was saying to Erica to try and keep her calm. "We just want to offer you a job. Let go of her arm."

"I'm not interested, thanks" Erica said, as the guard holding her hesitated in letting go. "Look, you can keep the lighter, but take your hand off me or I'll remove it myself," she threatened the guard. She was acting tough, but the others could see that she had become nervous.

Lindsey tried a different approach. He took the guard's hand off her arm and waved the other guard back away from her. He put himself between the girl and the guards to try and make her feel less threatened. "Look, no one's going to hurt you. We just want to figure out a way to thank you for what you've done." He took one of her hands in his regenerated one, and gave it a light squeeze to emphasise his meaning. "Come up to the offices and we'll talk, but there's no pressure on you to do anything or sign anything. We'll just talk. Besides, you must have come here for a reason. You can start by just telling us your name."

Erica paused for a moment. "You didn't answer me," she quietly accused Lindsey. She looked down at the hand that held hers. "Why did he do it? What were you doing?" she looked back up at him and searched his face.

Lindsey hesitated so she tugged her hand away and tried to bolt past the guards. She ducked past the first but the other managed to grab her around the midsection. She elbowed him in the face and kicked at his knees. He let her go but the other one grabbed her arms and wrestled her to the floor. He was too heavy to shift off of her so after a brief struggle she lay still; conserving her energy. She closed her eyes for a moment and refused to even acknowledge her captors, let alone talk to them.

"Holding room," the boss instructed. The guards hauled the girl up to her feet and walked away with her pressed between them, each holding one of her arms. A third came up to walk behind them and make sure she didn't try anything. "So, Lindsey," the older man said once they were out of sight. "She really reattached your hand?"

"I don't know about reattached," Lindsey said, holding it up to show them that there wasn't a scratch or a reattachment line to be seen, "the other one could still be at the mausoleum, but this one completely regrew from the stump. It's just as strong as it ever was."

"A powerful healer," the man said.

"She uses it for healing," Lindsey corrected with a shake of his head, "but it's possible she can direct it to other things. The feeling I got when she did it; it was amazing. Not only did it stop hurting altogether, but I also felt powerful myself until she broke contact. I could tell that she's got a lot in her that she doesn't know how to use yet. That's why I thought we should make her a client or an employee."

"She obviously wasn't happy about that, especially after she heard Angel's name." The woman spoke up.

"Yes," the man agreed. "Lindsey, find out what she knows, and who she is. Find out why she came here. Use the mind readers if you need to. We might be able to use her against Angel. See if you can't fabricate some story that makes him the bad guy."

Lindsey nodded and walked away.

"Big night," the woman said, "First we get a weapon to use against Angel, and then an ally of his walks right through our doors and reverses what he did to one of us, and in doing so she makes herself vulnerable to being used against him."

The older man smiled.

888

Lindsey nodded to the guard outside the girl's door. The guard entered a code into the security device on the door and swiped his ID card through it. Lindsey noticed that the guard had scratches on his face and a cut lip.

"Be careful," the man said. "She's still got some fight in her."

"Did you hurt her?" Lindsey asked.

"No," the guard said, "we just shut her in there real fast."

"Make sure you don't hurt her," Lindsey said warningly, "we need to try and gain her trust."

The door opened and it was closed quickly behind him when he stepped into the room. It was fairly bare. It had a single bed pushed into the corner with grey covers and a white pillow on it. Near the bed was a metal chair that was bolted to the floor. The worst she could do was throw pillows at him, but she sat quietly on the bed with her back against the wall and her knees drawn up to her chest. The look she gave him when she saw that it was him was a mix of pity, betrayal and confusion.

He paused for a moment, trying to think of something plausible and comforting that he could say. "Look, I'm really sorry about this."

"I'm sure you are," Erica said quietly, looking away.

"I mean it," Lindsey said, "but this is out of my hands."

"So that's what you came in here for?" Erica asked bitterly, "To say that you're sorry, but there's nothing you can do to help me?"

"I didn't say I couldn't do _anything_," Lindsey said, "and I can promise you that this is only a short-term thing. We just need to find out a few things before we can let you go. And I'm still serious about the job offer."

Erica sighed. "All right, what can you do for me?"

Lindsey shrugged. "Well, what do you like to drink, for a start? Whatever you want."

"Coke when I'm out, and Sprite when I'm not; it makes me less hyper." Erica said. "But don't bother bringing me anything that's already been opened because I won't drink it."

Lindsey frowned sympathetically as he caught her meaning. "Even if my employers would stoop to that," he said, "they don't need to. If I can't tell them that you're being co-operative they'll be forced to bring in mind-readers. They need to know that you're not a threat, and that anything you know can't harm us."

"Do I look like a threat to you?" Erica asked incredulously.

"I don't think you're a threat to us," Lindsey said as soothingly as he could without sounding condescending, "but my superiors might believe otherwise. You did something amazing tonight – for which I'm very thankful by the way – and you mentioned that you knew someone who has caused a lot of trouble for us."

"If he did then I'm sure there was a good reason."

Lindsey pounced on the uncertainty in her expression. "I don't know how long ago you knew him, or what you heard about him, but he is a vampire, and they're generally not nice people. He's been plaguing our company for a long time. You saw it yourself; he cut off my hand tonight."

"But you didn't tell me why," Erica pointed out.

"It's difficult to explain," Lindsey reasoned, "he was trying to stop me from doing a ritual. All we wanted to do was bring a woman out of hell. She wasn't supposed to be there, and she had useful information for us. Does it sound so bad to want to save a woman's life?"

"No," Erica admitted. "I mean, not unless you had to do human sacrifice or something like that." She quickly checked his expression. "You didn't, did you?"

"No, there was no human sacrifice." Lindsey assured her with a little smile. Erica nodded slowly as though she were trying to make a decision. "Now, what's your name?" he asked.

"I'm Erica," she replied.

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	17. A play for power

17: A play for power

**AN: Niley, you made my day, and no, I'm not finished yet. There's no way I would just leave it there! I promise that before I finish, Erica will at least get back to her own reality, and I may have one or two more 'adventures' in mind for her and her protectors.**

There was a knock on the door. "Come in," Lindsey said , looking up from the pile of books and papers on his desk. The door opened and Lilah Morgan, the woman from the night before and fellow lawyer at Wolfram and Hart, walked through the door.

"Do you realise that Holland has given me responsibility of Darla while you play games with that girl?" she asked with a smug smile.

"Do you remember being told that Darla was part of the big picture?" Lindsey countered her question with his own. He closed a couple of the books. "Well so is this girl. She's already identified with me, so I'm the best person to talk to her and gain her trust."

"So just get her mind read so we can find out what she knows," Lilah insisted, a little fazed by Lindsey's apparent uninterest in Darla, for whom he'd lost his hand. She was hoping for a gloating opportunity. "I have projects of my own too, you know."

"They tried it this morning," Lindsey said with a shake of his head. "The twins' noses started bleeding and they couldn't read anything past the word 'vessel'."

"So she's probably just a witch with a few protection and healing spells," Lilah said, "which means she's nothing special, and that once we remove them we can get what we want."

"No," Lindsey said, "The twins didn't feel any kind of mortal magic, and she is mortal: they could discover that much. I watched the security video. She was scared when they arrived and relieved when they left. She didn't even know that she was a Blocker."

"So how are you planning to get useful information out of her when she doesn't seem to know much anyway?" Lilah pointed out, while crossing her arms and leaning against the arm of one of the chairs that faced the desk.

Lindsey patted the books on his desk. "To be honest, it's her I'm interested in, not what she knows about Angel. I think she might be mentioned in here somewhere."

"You're sure about this?" Lilah asked. "You're going to baby-sit a stray while our biggest enemy gets his mind tinkered with by your former project?"

"She's only been here one night," Lindsey said. "And I don't think you understand that 'the stray' is capable of more than even she knows. You weren't there when she helped me, and you can't feel it when you're near her."

"Feel what?" Lilah asked.

Lindsey wished he hadn't mentioned it. He glanced away and closed his mouth.

"What?" Lilah persisted.

Lindsey thought about it for a moment. He hadn't tried to put it into words before. "Power. It's kind of like a humming, but I can feel it on my skin, I can't hear it. It might be because of what she's done to me, but when I'm in the room with her I can feel the humming and it seems like everything is just … right. And I don't think she even knows she's doing it. But if I do this right, gain the girl's trust, and help her find out what else she can do, she could be a very useful asset."

"How is she going to trust you now that you tried to have her mind read?"

"I told her last night that it was out of my hands. As long as I play the sensitive guy who's just trying to help her, she'll still listen to me. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got research to do."

Lilah took the dismissal without comment and left the room, shutting the door behind her.

Lindsey reopened the book he was up to and turned a few pages. He gave a little smile. "Vessel of power," he whispered. He saw something about portals to other dimensions. "She didn't tell me about this. Life energy. Affection … the key." His eyes rested on a title part-way down the page. 'Filtering energy from the vessel.'

888

'The room is monitored by video and audiotape. Do you trust me?' Erica read from a piece of paper that had come with her lunch. 'The firm thinks you might be dangerous. Act normal during meeting today. Stay by the door at 8pm tonight. Will be a blackout. I'll get you out of here. L.'

Erica took another bite of her sandwich as she screwed the piece of paper up and tucked it into her shoe, making it look like she was scratching an itch.

When she finished her lunch she went to take a shower in the small bathroom that Lindsey had assured her wasn't monitored, and while there she tore up the piece of paper and flushed it just to make sure it wouldn't be discovered.

888

Erica had been doing her evening stretches, just as she had the night before, when she checked her watch and saw that it was almost time. She was in the main room, close to the door.

She only practiced her close-combat moves while in the bathroom. It was a little slippery, but she didn't want to give the people watching her any more clues about what she was capable of, even though it wasn't much because she was only mortal. She'd felt kind of stupid at first; practicing when there was no use for it, but she kept it up anyway. She felt that it was one way to stay defiant, one way to keep some control over her life. She wouldn't let them control the way she lived her life.

Suddenly the lights went out, and her adrenalin skyrocketed. She stood to one side of the door and clenched her fists. She didn't know how long it would take Lindsey to get there from wherever he had disabled the power.

Someone was shining torchlight into the room, and she guessed that it was the guard. She was out of the way and out of sight. The torchlight moved away and she could hear fumbling at the door. She suddenly wondered if maybe she should have stayed in sight so as not to raise suspicions. But if the door was being opened then it was probably a good thing after all, as it only opened from the outside and she couldn't trust that Lindsey would have the right key card and code to get her out.

They had given her other clothes to wear, but after her shower she had changed back into her own clothing. She had left her wet towel in a heap by the door, and it hadn't been picked up yet by whoever took care of bedding. She grabbed it and opened it up as the door opened. The torchlight came forward, shining at the back wall as the guard took a step inside. She could hear the faint jingle of keys and she threw the towel up where his face must have been. She heard a muffled cry and the torchlight darted up as he flailed his arms. She gave a short, skip-like step, whipped her left leg up and rammed her heel into his head.

The torch dropped as the man fell to the floor. He was still conscious, so Erica quickly scooped up the torch and whacked him on the head with it when he tried to sit up. She removed the towel and used the torch to see that it was the same guard who had been pushing her around her the night before. She'd cracked his forehead. She didn't like the guy, but she took a second to put her hand in front of his face to feel for his breath. He was alive.

Although the torch had been a good weighty object to use as a bludgeon, the impact had damaged it and the light was flickering. It winked out as she stood up and felt her way toward the corridor walls.

She saw more torchlight getting closer from around a corner and she jerked back, ready to fight or flee. Her grip tightened on the torch and she decided to stand her ground, remembering that Lindsey was probably on his way and she needed to stay where he could find her. Red emergency lighting came on and it was Lindsey himself, still dressed in his work clothes, who ran around the corner. He stopped short when he saw her out of the room and the guard on the floor but he quickly held his hand out for her.

They almost crashed into another guard, but Erica used their momentum from running to jump up and slam both feet into his face. He dropped like dead weight, and she used Lindsey's grip on her hand to keep herself from falling after such a risky move.

He led her through the corridors and down the emergency stairs out of the building. He didn't say a word to her until they were two blocks away and hiding in an abandoned building. He'd taken her out through the same tunnels that Angel had once gotten in through, and had taken her back up to street level at the first opportunity.

Erica's torch was broken, so she stood in the middle of the room as Lindsey checked the windows and doors, covering them with some wooden slats that had been left in a corner. "We'll have to move in the morning." Lindsey told her. "They'll be able to track us down by then."

Erica nodded, despite the fact that he couldn't see her. "Where are we going to go?" she asked.

Lindsey turned to look at her. He ran a hand through his hair. "I hadn't really thought that far, to be honest. Do you have family here?"

Erica sighed and looked down. "Not in this reality" she muttered.

Lindsey had heard her. "What are you talking about?"

Erica looked up and gave him a careful look. "I'll answer your question if you answer mine," she said guardedly. "You just threw away your career, and if the firm is as dangerous as I believe, possibly your life too. Why did you risk everything to help me?" She crossed her arms, but it was more a gesture of insecurity than anger or arrogance.

"I thought it was obvious," Lindsey said, walking a little closer. "I like you. You're a nice girl and I don't believe you should be locked up for it. I also owe you, very much. And besides, my future there wasn't that secure anyway." He looked around the room with his torch. "I'm sorry, but we're not going to be very comfortable tonight." The room was fairly bare. There were a few crates around, but the room mostly consisted of dusty floor and peeling walls.

"Not your fault." Erica said simply. "Maybe there's some blankets or something upstairs."

Lindsey directed his torch upward. "Second floor doesn't look too stable," he commented as he saw the cracks in the ceiling. He glanced at her. "Wait down here, and hug the wall in case anything does come down. I'll take a quick look."

Erica nodded and did as she was told. She found an old tin bin pushed back against the wall, overflowing with a pile of paper rubbish. She did her best to just look around and practice getting used to the dark like Spike had told her. She inhaled quickly and sat down against the wall as she was freshly reminded that she might not see any of the guys again, or at least not _her_ guys.

If she could believe Lindsey then Angel was a monster in this reality, or at least not as concerned with helping the innocents as he was when she'd known him. Through her conversations with Lawson and Cordelia she had discovered that Spike had only had a soul two years before she'd known him. He might be a monster too. And Lawson had been a half-souled, unpredictable creature before he'd been called to join the others in helping her. She couldn't rely on help from any of the vampires and for all she knew Cordelia was still in trouble.

Gunn didn't trust her and she barely knew him anyway. She didn't know Wesley at all, and hardly even remembered what he'd looked like from a photo she'd seen at the funeral. The only other people she knew in LA were the regulars at the gym, a couple of people in her multimedia class and anyone she'd met at the funeral. She couldn't rely on any of them to help her or even to remember her. She just hadn't been in LA that long. Lindsey was her only help.

She saw the light coming down the stairs at the end of the room. It looked like something big was coming down the stairs. She knew it was Lindsey though, probably laden with whatever he'd managed to find. The light settled on her and then quickly jerked away from her face so that he didn't blind her. Erica had to blink a couple of times, but she got up and started dragging the bin over to the middle of the room. The light came back to see what she was doing.

"Good idea," Lindsey said. "Here." He dropped the blankets and pillow and walked over to help her. They pulled most of the paper out and kicked it out of the way. Lindsey fished around in his pocket and pulled out her lighter. He'd retrieved it from the guard. He handed it to her and walked over to a spare wooden slat and started breaking it up by stomping on it. Erica was still just holding the lighter when he came back with an armful of it.

"Thank you," she said, glancing from his face and back to the lighter, "it's just a silly little cheap thing. But it's familiar. And it's something from home."

"You're welcome," Lindsey said as he put the wood down. "Let's get that fire lit and you can tell me about it."

"Yeah," Erica agreed, helping him put a few of the wood pieces in.

Soon they had managed to get a bright little bin-fire going and Lindsey turned off the torch. He spread one of the blankets close by for them to sit on. Erica sat down and Lindsey sat to the left of her and draped a second blanket over their shoulders.

Erica stayed quiet for a couple of moments and then began telling Lindsey about where she had come from, and about the differences she had found between her world and this one. "And I'm not sure how to get back," she continued, "because I might end up somewhere worse than here. Much worse. There are demon dimensions I've never even heard the names of. If I get trapped there then I'm likely to end up as dinner. I'm lost, Lindsey. I don't belong here and I'm lost, and I have nowhere to go."

Lindsey put his arm around her shoulder and gently squeezed it in sympathy. Erica was quiet for a little while, just looking into the flames.

"Are you thinking that you wouldn't be in so much of a mess if you hadn't helped me?" Lindsey asked.

"Maybe a little," Erica admitted, "but you wouldn't be in a mess either if you hadn't helped me back, and I'm sure they'll do worse to you if they find you. I'm guessing that they still wanted me to do something for them, although I don't know if that makes me better off once they're done with me. But I'm not sorry that I helped you." She gave him a meaningful glance, full of trust and gratitude.

"Neither am I. And you're not alone here. Maybe other people you knew don't remember you, but now you've met me, and I'm here to help you. You're not alone."

"So," Erica said slowly, after leaning her head on his shoulder for comfort. "That ritual, did it work?"

"What one?" Erica imagined that she felt his voice rumble through her cheek and hair from his throat.

"The one to rescue the woman from hell. The one you lost your hand for. Did it work?"

"Yeah, it did." Lindsey was still looking intently at the fire.

"Was she someone you knew?"

"No." Lindsey said quietly. "Up until now, my work was more important than everything else. I didn't get time to know a lot of people."

"So what's going to be most important in your life now?" Erica asked.

"This." Lindsey said. His fingers grazed her right cheek and he turned her face toward him. His other arm lightly rested on her shoulders, but he didn't pull her or try to force her to respond when he leaned forward to kiss her.

She did kiss him back, but when they pulled away she said, "You don't even know me that well."

"I know enough," Lindsey said, as his free hand touched her hair. "The first time I saw you, when you came over to help me without even knowing who I was; I thought you were an angel come to save me. You kissed me and all the pain and hurt went away. Ever since, I wanted you to kiss me again. Every time I sat in that room to talk to you and every time I thought about you, I wanted it."

"Well, to be honest," Erica said, "When I wasn't being suspicious of you, so did I." She closed the little gap between them and kissed him again. She hooked her arms around his shoulders as they drew each other closer. His right hand, the new hand that she'd created for him, moved from her shoulder and ran down her back. She gave a small shiver as his fingertips reached under her top and traced up and down her spine and then spread out to rest on her lower back. There was a new tattoo on the back of the hand, close to the wrist, but Erica hadn't noticed it. His left hand was still up at her hair, and he pulled the scrunchie out to free it.

Erica shifted her legs so that she was kneeling next to him on the blanket. The other blanket had fallen off their shoulders and crumpled in a heap behind them. She shifted her hands to his shoulders and pushed his jacket down his arms. He was forced to let go of her for a moment but as soon as the jacket was off he took hold of her waist and back again. Her fingers ran through his hair and down his cheeks, and then she followed his jaw line with her lips. He buried his face in her neck and kissed her collarbone, then rose up to meet her mouth again.

The fire that was close to them was warm. Erica thought that was where the warm tingle on her skin was coming from. Erica let him take her jacket off like she'd done to him. Erica let him do a lot of things, and she responded in kind.

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	18. Cruel intentions?

18: Cruel intentions?

**AN: I am sorry to have cut it short, but you should know my policy on writing romantic scenes. Just not comfortable with them yet, but I did the best I could. There's also the fact that I want to stay within the limits of the rating system.**

It was quiet. There must have been cars out there somewhere, but it was as if the couple were caught in a safe little bubble where they saw and heard only each other. Erica wasn't quite asleep, but she was dozing in his arms beneath the second blanket. His shirt was unbuttoned, but they were wearing clothes again to make sure they didn't get themselves sick due to sleeping in the draft-prone building.

It had worked, he was sure of it. He felt as though he was a wire stretched tight, and he was now thrumming with energy. Her energy. Energy she hadn't even known she was capable of harnessing. But now that he had it he wasn't going to leave her. It hadn't all been lies. He genuinely liked her, but he'd been right about her being a useful asset if she trusted him.

The tattoo on his hand had faded; the siphoning power used up. He looked down at her peaceful face and felt a twinge of guilt. He hadn't mentioned any of it to her, even though he knew she couldn't be hurt by what he'd done. She had been with him willingly, and that was a key to the sharing of power. The Life-giving fire nearby and the fact that she'd already healed him once and therefore had connected with him had all helped him draw strength from her without causing the slightest discomfort. There were worse ways to steal power.

If anything he might have helped her. He knew she couldn't access all of her strength yet, and she would have plenty to spare. He'd read that if she became too slayer-like too soon it would kill her as the power inside her fought to hold onto it's place within her body.

… So why did he feel a pang of regret?

He hadn't asked. He had taken without permission. On some level it wasn't much different to rape, and that really bothered him. She may have consented to the physical act, but she hadn't understood what he was doing and hadn't been given the chance to agree to it. But it was done, and he was now better able to protect them both than he would have been last night.

She was facing away from him but her back was tucked into the curve of his body. Her head rested on his left arm. He leaned over her and kissed her cheek. He grimaced as his vision was flooded with a white hall and the image of two golden beings. They told him to bring the girl to them. He got the impression that they were not pleased with him.

He could see normally again and saw that Erica had turned toward him and was looking at him. "What's wrong?" she asked. "You just tensed up." She put her hand up to his cheek. "You have a bad dream or something?"

"Or something," he agreed. He kissed her forehead.

Erica sat up suddenly. "Someone's outside," she whispered just loud enough for him to hear. "I saw a shadow." She was looking toward one of the covered windows. Her next glance was to the small pile of broken wood near the fire.

Lindsey understood her at once and pulled the blanket off them before reaching for two improvised stakes. Vampire or not, sharpened wood tended to hurt a lot of things, and it was better than the arsenal of nothing that they had as an alternative.

Erica took the bulky stake and stood in a half-crouched posture. She backed up toward a wall and Lindsey followed her. Until they knew how many there were, it would be best to only have them come after them from one direction.

"Just so you know," Erica whispered to him, "if it's vampires, this is only my second encounter. The same goes for werewolves, witches, summoner demons and zombies." She tugged her cross out of her tank top. They usually only worked against vampires and certain demons, so Wolfram and Hart hadn't seen the harm in letting her keep it.

"Stay behind me," Lindsey cautioned. "They already know we're here from the fire."

"Well doesn't this look cosy?" a voice called. Someone was coming down the stairs. "You forgot to board up the second floor, kiddies." A punk-looking vampire with a Mohawk came down the stairs. "Although, you didn't even use nails to board up the windows in this level." He was shaking his head as if he was scolding them.

The humans jumped a little as the two boarded up windows that had faced an alley were beaten inward. Two more vampires entered. One was bald and wearing a heavy leather jacket and jeans, the other had blonde hair down to his shoulders, and was only wearing track pants. Blondie growled, baring his teeth. Both of them stopped and stood still once they got into the building.

Mohawk seemed to be the leader. "This was a good night for you guys to drop by," he said, coming down the last few stairs. "Brad here's new to the game; he needs something nice and fresh to feed off." He gave Erica the up and down, undressing stare and grinned. The blonde, Brad, growled again and smirked past his fangs.

Lindsey could tell that Erica was doing her best to stay calm and focussed. "What I wouldn't give for that crossbow, right now," she muttered. With their vampire hearing, the others had heard her.

"Nice try," Mohawk said, taking another two steps forward, "but the Slayer's in Sunnydale."

"'Doesn't change the fact that the last vampire who thought I looked good enough to eat is now a pile of dust outside Benny's Bar," Erica said, trying to bluff her way out of the fight. One of her hands was holding up the piece of wood and pointing it towards Baldy and Brad, and her other hand was clenched in a fist and up at shoulder height. Her feet were already spaced apart, ready for the conflict.

Mohawk shrugged as if he didn't care what she thought she could do. "Go get your dinner, boys," he ordered.

Baldy and Brad rushed at the two humans. Baldy got to Lindsey first and swung a punch at his head. Lindsey ducked and tried to shove the stake up into his chest but Baldy blocked it with his other arm and shoved him backward. Meanwhile Erica had pulled off her cross and was using it to hold Brad at bay. The new vampire cringed and shrank back. Mohawk tried to get around behind her but Lindsey had deliberately placed himself so that he guarded her back.

Baldy took another swing at Lindsey. Lindsey grabbed the arm and kicked him in the stomach. He then staked him and turned to fight Mohawk.

Brad covered his eyes with his left forearm and swiped out blindly with his right arm. He got closer and Erica kicked him in the chest because he was protecting his face. She lunged forward to try and stake him but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her past him, letting go to let her stumble to the floor on her hands and knees.

Now that the cross wasn't pushing him back he pounced on her and pulled her to her feet with his arms around her shoulders. Erica elbowed him in the stomach and kicked his shins but he ignored the pain. She threw her head back to smack him in the face as he tried to taste her and succeeded in making him loosen his grip. He grabbed a handful of her top as she tried to lunge forward to grab her cross off the floor. She twisted in his grip and kicked him in the face.

Mohawk was thrown across the room behind them. Lindsey was stronger than they had expected. He pulled Brad backward by the hair and plunged his stake into the vampire's back before he could grab Erica again. Mohawk rushed at him. Lindsey sidestepped and grabbed the back of Mohawk's jacket and rammed the vampire's head into the wall, leaving a sizeable dent. He pulled him back out and threw him across the room again. Lindsey followed and staked him as he tried to get up. Miraculously, throughout the entire fight the bin of fire hadn't been knocked over.

Lindsey turned around to see Erica staring at him. "How did you do that?" she asked. She wasn't afraid of him, just surprised.

Lindsey was quiet for a moment, and then decided to come clean. She'd trusted him with her life, and he had no right to lie to her about what he'd done. "I borrowed some strength from you," he said.

"What do you mean?" Erica asked. "At the moment I don't have that much strength, I told you that."

"But you will," Lindsey said, "and it's there already, it's just inactive. You've got plenty of energy but you can't use it to defend yourself yet. I took some of it from you in a ritual to make myself stronger and faster. It will stay with me now, but your body will replace it eventually."

"What ritual?" Erica asked, "And when? What did you do?"

Lindsey didn't answer, but he looked toward the blankets on the ground. Erica understood.

"You _used_ me?" Erica said, and Lindsey realised that he was on dangerous ground. "You slept with me so you could steal from me?" She took a step backward, her expression hurt. She looked away. "Did your bosses put you up for this, or did you volunteer?" she asked bitterly.

"They have nothing to do with this; they don't even know that we're here or what I did. I hid the research." Lindsey said. "I wouldn't have done it if it was going to hurt you, and I wouldn't have done it if I didn't think it was the best way to keep you safe."

"Who made you my protector?" Erica asked sarcastically, crossing her arms and staring at him.

"You did, when you trusted me to keep you safe. It was the act of trust that was the key. And that's what the ritual is for; to create a guardian. I'm supposed to use what I've got to protect you, and I'm going to do it. We'd be dead right now if I hadn't done it."

"Even if it doesn't hurt me, even if it helps us, you could have told me," Erica argued. "You could have _asked_." Her eyes were starting to tear up, but Lindsey knew better than to try and touch her. She was right. "I didn't think it was possible to treat someone like a child and a whore at the same time, but you did it. Congratulations, Lindsey(!) You've done what lawyers are supposed to do best; screwing the people who trust you for all they're worth."

"I'm sorry," Lindsey said, taking a step closer "It's not the only reason I wanted to be with you." He reached out as if to touch her face. Erica took another step back.

"Don't touch me," she spat. "And just… don't talk to me until it's time to leave in the morning. Please."

Lindsey sighed and nodded. Erica took one of the blankets and sat on the other side of the fire. She put it over her shoulders and faced away, watching the gaping windows and clenching her cross in her hands.

**AN: Just a little head's up: For the next chapter I'm going to try switching back and forth between perspectives. You should be able to follow it; I'll be using my '888 system'.**


	19. Regaining trust

**19: Regaining trust**

The comforting buzzing was gone. She was gone.

Lindsey jerked awake. His head snapped up as he searched the room. She wasn't there. She must have left quietly. She'd left the blanket on the ground, and the lighter lay on top of it, but she had gone. If someone had come and taken her she'd have made a noise, so she must have left of her own free will. The lighter was probably her way of saying she didn't want anything from him.

He pushed himself up to his feet. He found his shoes and put them back on. He grabbed his jacket and buttoned up his shirt. He was going to find her. Maybe she considered herself a big girl, but bad things tended to happen to lone girls in this town. Opportunistic men like him happened to lone girls in this town.

He had no choice but to find her. Her not trusting him didn't change what he was supposed to do.

888

She wasn't liking the car ride. Someone had had handcuffs with them, and lying on your back with your hands around your back isn't fun.

It had just been getting light when she was caught. They had some kind of sniffer creature with them. Ugliest damn dog she'd ever seen, but it managed to lead them to her. One of the people they'd sent after her wasn't really human, though he'd looked it. Every time she'd turned around to try and evade them, it had seemed to be just around the next corner.

It had been a mistake to try and fight her way out. One hit from the human-creature had been enough to tell her that. Even though she'd been outnumbered she couldn't help lashing out. The thing had lashed back. She'd been knocked into a brick wall with the force of the blow, dazing her and effectively taking most of the fight out of her.

Her cheek ached, but not as much as it had at first. She seemed to be healing a little faster nowadays, though nowhere near vampire-fast, and it was probably thanks to waking up the Life energy. Though good to know, she was more preoccupied with worrying about what was going to happen to her.

888

Lindsey hadn't openly turned against the firm. He had witnesses that said he'd left the building to go home the night before. The power had been out at the time of the rescue, so no cameras, and the guard from Erica's room had unwittingly revealed that the girl had gotten out of her room by herself. The other guard had only had enough time to see Erica's feet flying toward his face before he was knocked out. Lindsey was in the clear.

As far as Holland Manners was concerned, Lindsey had been uninvolved and was still one of them. True, it had been his project that had escaped, so if the girl wasn't recovered then Lindsey would be in trouble with the senior partners. However, if the girl was recovered then Lindsey was still the best person to learn from her. And it was partially Lindsey's responsibility to try and get her back, so a few messages were left on his home answering machine.

That was how Lindsey learned where she'd been taken. He'd made a quick stop to destroy the research so that it couldn't be used against him or Erica, and in doing so the task of tracking her down was made easier. The second message was notification of her capture. He made a quick phone call of his own, then grabbed a clean shirt and raced off.

888

"Oof," Erica gasped as the wind was knocked out of her.

They'd taken the cuffs off her and were trying to force her into another room, but Erica wasn't being cooperative. There were only humans left with her now. The human-like creature had taken his pay and his dog thing with him once Erica had been caught. Unfortunately for Erica they'd left the guard that didn't like her much with her. It was the same one that had pushed her around on the first night, and the same one that she'd knocked out the night before. He had a bandage on his head, and he looked annoyed with her.

The three others with him appeared to be on his side. Maybe they were union or something, and against being hit by the prisoners or whatever. Erica really didn't care. They were deliberately being rough with her, and despite not liking the firm, Erica hoped that the guards were doing it against orders. She didn't like to think that the firm had dropped the façade of just wanting information from her, because it meant that she could get used to rough treatment until they got what they wanted from her.

She rolled over and picked herself up off the floor where she'd been pushed. They were in a different building; it was like a big warehouse. There were locks on the outer doors, and she could just vaguely smell old blood. Perhaps the firm used the building for some of its more nefarious activities. She'd seen a huge bolt on the door in front of her and had baulked at being forced inside. They took her cuffs off and tried to push her in, but she'd twisted out of the way, and that was when the big, bandaged, bald one had pushed her roughly. She'd tripped and fallen to the floor.

They were out of uniform, and in civilian clothes. The other three all had short hair, and were standing around in a semicircle to try and hem her in toward the door. Unsurprisingly, they were all bigger than her. Unfair fight. There was a blonde, a redhead and a brunette. Her 'friend' the bald man grabbed her by the hair near the scalp and she grabbed his hand with both of hers. She remembered this move from her old self-defence classes.

She quickly found the thumb which told her which hand had grabbed her - the right. She twisted away from the thumb with her hands still holding his to smack her bent arm into his elbow. It hurt the guy, but she wasn't quick enough or using enough strength to break it.

The rest of the move would have involved her spinning the other way around, while still holding the hand or the wrist, to end up on the inside of his injured arm. In that position he couldn't do much with his other arm except grab her, but she was in a position to hit him or use anything from a wrist-lock to a leg-sweep move on him. It would have all depended on what she could remember and what instinct took over, but it didn't matter because two of the other guys grabbed her arms and pulled her back away from the guy.

She did a lot of kicking, but it wasn't enough to stop them pulling her up and throwing her in the room and bolting it behind her. Unfair fight.

888

"Holland, what are we doing here?" Lindsey asked. He'd arrived outside of the warehouse just as a limo pulled up, carrying Lilah Morgan and Holland Manners. It was getting close to darkness, but Holland hadn't said that Erica would be there until then. Lindsey didn't want to seem too eager to see the girl if there was a chance that she wouldn't be there if he went early.

"I hired a shaman for an extraction spell." Holland answered. "Lilah did a little research of her own, and it turns out that the girl, this 'vessel' has quite a lot of power tucked away. You were right; we will be able to use her. Anyway, the shaman wouldn't do the spell in the building; too many conflicting energies and spells or something. He needed the darkness to do his spell."

"Where is he?" Lindsey asked.

"Inside," Holland answered.

"What about the girl?" Lindsey asked.

"She's inside too," Holland replied, his eyes flicking to the door, "locked up in a temporary holding room."

"She's been given a couple of hours to cool off." Lilah added.

"She put up a fight again?" Lindsey asked, trying to keep the concerned interest out of his voice.

"Just a little superficial damage; both to her and to one of the men who caught her." Holland answered. "Nothing that would interfere with the spell, or so I've been assured. Shall we?" He gestured toward the doors, so Lilah and Lindsey entered the warehouse.

888

Some stupid girl. They were here because of some stupid, crazy-ass girl. A girl that apparently knew their names. A girl who had delusions and thought that people were dead when they really weren't. A girl who had thought that for some reason Angel would know who she was.

Lindsey would probably have been a dead man if he'd come to them on his own. Well, maybe Angel was too principled to kill a human, but Gunn, personally, would have kicked his ass if it had been one of his friends that had almost died because of him.

There was the fact that the girl had seemed to be an innocent, and Lindsey had been raving about saving her life, and saving her from Wolfram and Hart, but the main thing that had saved him from bodily harm was Cordelia's fortunate vision, moments before Lindsey had tracked them down.

Gunn had only met Cordelia the day before, and he didn't much trust that freaky second sight stuff, but she said that he was guaranteed to be involved in a fight if he tagged along, so he went with it. Plus he liked messing with those white stuck-up lawyers. Lindsey had told them exactly what he'd been told, that the girl would be at a certain place at a certain time. Sounded a bit shaky to Gunn, but Cordelia's vision had managed to lead them to the shaman, so the rest could still be true. Gunn got the impression that Wolfram and Hart didn't completely trust its own lawyers.

'Hadn't known they were going to make him dress up. Damn, if any of the boys found out he was wearing a ceremonial robe… it was Wesley's idea. Next time he could do his own acting, as long as the guy didn't get almost blown up again.

888

There was a robed man standing at a wooden makeshift altar, a collection of powders and artefacts spread before him. He was waiting for the girl to be brought into sight so he could start his work.

The guards were inside the warehouse, sitting or leaning against the walls. They all stood up when Holland and the two lawyers came in. Holland waved the bald guy over toward them.

"Michaels," Holland said warningly. "No matter how many chances I give you to redeem yourself, this girl still manages to get the better of you. Are you incapable of doing your job?"

"No sir," Michaels replied.

Holland gave him a last lingering look before addressing the man in the dark blue, hooded robe. "Are you ready to begin?" The figure was still for a moment before he nodded. His face was shadowed by the hood, but Lindsey knew that he'd been looking toward the window to see if it was dark yet.

"Michaels," Holland said, "go get the girl. If she proves to be too much trouble for you, you might want to think about looking for another job."

Michaels didn't look happy as he turned to do his job. Lindsey watched him so that he'd know where Erica had been put. Michaels closed the door behind him and Lindsey pushed a button on his phone that was hidden in his pocket. Holland started walking off to the side of the room where they could see the shaman do his work without distracting him.

Several things happened at once. A yell was heard from the holding room. A van crashed through the wall, driven by Wesley. The man couldn't move too freely yet, but apparently he was able to drive. The door slid open as the guards rushed to stop the intruders. Lindsey ran toward the holding room.

As he touched the handle he could feel it again. She was there, and the fluttering on his skin told him so. He wrenched open the door and stepped inside. There was a man groaning on the floor, and a hunk of wood was lying next to him. Lindsey had a split second to realise that she was off to his left before she jumped at him from her raised position on the bed, hoping to bring him down quickly. He caught her and nearly fell over because of her momentum, like she'd planned.

"It's me," he said quickly, and couldn't resist giving her a quick kiss on the mouth.

"I know," she said, and slapped him.

Lindsey let go of her with only a little surprise. "Look, I deserve that, but it's not helping us right now. I came to get you out of here."

"Like last time?" She pushed him back.

"Erica, I'm sorry, but we _don't _have time for this. Yell at me later."

Michaels was pushing himself up from the floor. Erica had managed to surprise him, but he was still conscious.

Erica vented her frustration on him. She grabbed the back of his collar and brought her knee up to smack him in the face. He gave a heavy grunt of pain, and she kicked up into his face. His head snapped back and he rolled over, holding his face. Lindsey had to grab her arm and pull her away before she started kicking him more.

She didn't look happy with him, but she let him pull her away without yelling or slapping him. Progress.

888

Angel was talking to Holland and Lilah. Well, threatening them actually. It was the first time he'd met one of the puppet masters of Wolfram and Hart, but he must have known him by the snappy suit and the fact that Lilah was standing off behind him and looking to him for direction.

Erica took in the room with a glance. Gunn, the man from the hospital, had a baseball bat slung over his shoulder. The robe was on the floor. Holland had only had humans guarding the area for some reason. He must have thought that a powerful shaman would have been enough backup.

Cordelia was standing by the van, and she started walking up when she saw Erica. Erica shrugged her arm away from Lindsey and let the other woman approach.

"Hi," Cordelia said, "I'm Cordelia."

"I know," Erica said quietly. "That's Angel, that's Gunn, and that's… that's Wesley. Thanks for the rescue."

"Well, you're welcome." Cordelia said, a little thrown.

Erica turned to Lindsey. "Did you lie about him being a monster too?" she gestured toward Angel.

"Well, he is a vampire," Lindsey said.

"That's not what I meant and you know it," Erica snapped.

"I don't like him very much," Lindsey said, "actually I really hate him, but he's… he's not a bad guy. He's still on your side."

"It killed you to say that, didn't it?" Cordelia asked.

Lindsey didn't answer, but his look said that it did. He looked at Erica. "We have to go. I know you don't like me very much at the moment, but do you at least trust that I'm not going to get you hurt?"

Erica still wasn't happy with him, and she made sure it showed, but she did nod at him.

"The higher powers want to see you." He explained. "And I mean the ones that Angel works for, not the ones that I used to answer to. You really don't want to keep any higher powers waiting, regardless of whose side they're on."

888

They had left quickly. Erica really hadn't wanted to meet a dead man, or one that was supposed to be dead, and she'd kept her thank-you to the others pretty short. She didn't belong in their world, and felt like she shouldn't form any attachments. She got the impression that the higher powers could help her get home, and she didn't want to add more confusion to her life by growing close to different versions of her friends.

Lindsey drove her, and she was quiet.

Lindsey broke the silence abruptly. "I feel like I'm always having to apologise to you. Part of me just wanted to be powerful, and thought I could get away with not telling you. The other part really did want to keep you safe. It wasn't until you were in danger that I realised the second part was the most important part. I should have told you."

He sighed and continued, "Having power isn't worth losing you. I _meant_ what I said last night, even if there was another motive for saying it. You were an angel to me, and you do make me feel like everything's all right. I couldn't stand the thought of you hurt, and I thought I could get away with it. I'm sorry. I am so sorry. I was stupid, I was selfish, and I want to have your forgiveness, if you'll give it."

"You're a jerk." Erica said.

"I am," Lindsey agreed with her right away, earning him a closer look from Erica. "I was. You're already changing me." he said it with complete sincerity.

"Yeah, well," Erica said slowly, "working for that place; you've got a lot to make up for. I suppose that rescuing me was a good start."

"Was that a 'maybe' to forgiving me?"

"Give me time," Erica said quietly. "But yes. Keep doing 'good deeds' and I'll forgive you. Use what you've taken to good purpose, and I'll consider it something shared rather than something stolen. At least you meant well."

Lindsey was silent. She was leaving soon, and wouldn't get to see him be the man she wanted. He knew that she probably wouldn't return.

888

**AN: You'd have probably guessed by now that I have a teensy bit of a self-defence background, which helps me write fight scenes. I did Taekwon-do (same as Sarah Michelle Gellar) for a couple of years and I've also done at least a couple of months of broad self-defence classes and a little kickboxing. Hehe, got to play with the big guys and I was only a young teen girl. Yeah, they were gentle with me. (Cheeky grin) ; ) **


	20. Returning home

**20: Returning home**

888

Lindsey had been shown the ritual, and he gained Erica's access to the realm of lost souls. He tried to enter alongside her, but found himself barred. The wall became a wall again, and Erica was gone.

888

The bodies of the ghostly beings were gone, but the blood remained. Two wavering forms stood in the doorway. Erica felt unafraid, and stepped forward to speak with them.

"Why do you look like ghosts?" she asked.

The man looked a little annoyed - the woman was impassive- but he answered the question. "We were slain by a servant of the underworld. Our powers are limited, but we can endure until you are ready to bear your responsibilities."

"We are not the Powers that Be," the woman explained, "merely their intermediaries, once called the oracles. Perhaps one day you will encounter the higher powers yourself."

Erica got the impression that she shouldn't waste their time. "I don't understand what happened to me when I used the portal."

"You are not supposed to traverse time," the brother said, "only reality. You altered your own reality, creating a new version that mimics the events of five years before your time, but you must return. You must make the portal, but the higher powers will guide you so that you return safely from whence you came. But you must learn to use the portals by yourself. Do not let yourself become distracted again." He seemed sterner than his sister.

"This reality is not stable." The sister said a little more gently. "It should not exist, save that all of our influence, yours included, made it so."

"So I haven't made any change to the past of my own reality?" Erica clarified.

"You have not. " the man answered.

"I'm sorry." Erica apologised, " If this reality is not supposed to be here then why did you help me make it? "

The woman answered her. "You would have been lost. At least the damage done here is repairable."

"How?" Erica asked.

"When ready, you will come back and repair the timeline that has been damaged." The man explained. Erica started to ask how she would be able to do it.

"By the time you return," the woman said before Erica could ask, "you will understand how."

"So for now it's just a loose end?"

The woman nodded. "In a way, yes, an unfinished strand of time and reality that can later be altered and resewn into the tapestry of life."

"What about the people here?" Erica asked.

"They are shadows of their true selves," the man said. "Echoes in time, now that it has been changed. You will repair that too. You must leave now," he said, cutting off further questions. "Create the portal, and you will be returned home."

Erica found a pool of water at her feet, and she nodded.

888

"Her life in the new strand of time has finished." The sister said, once Erica had left.

"And so ends another life. It must be so, for she is not yet ready to sustain anything from the reality that did not already exist in her own."

"The life will return to her when she returns to reforge the timeline."

"It may, if she so chooses."

"A reward," the woman said.

"If she survives that long."

888

Cordelia had been taken home by Lawson to lie down after having two visions in twenty-four hours. Angel and Spike had waited for about an hour in the office. It was still morning, but very nearly afternoon on the same day that Erica had left.

There was a sudden warmth in the air, and a portal swirled into life over where Erica had disappeared. This time she had help to control the portal, and so she emerged much more slowly and managed to land on her feet.

She didn't feel sick or off balance or anything. She sighed and smiled at Angel and Spike. "Hi guys."

"Where were you?" Angel said, as he came out of his office toward her. Spike had been waiting on the couch, reading through the newspaper to pass the time. He had stood up as the atmosphere changed.

"Good question," Erica said, checking the date on the newspaper, "but can I use the shower first?"

Angel nodded.

888

Erica was brushing her hair as she came back into the foyer. She had followed Cordelia's advice and left a set of clothes at the office, so she had clean jeans and a t-shirt.

Angel was on the phone, so Erica sat down on the couch near Spike. He waited for her to say something rather than pushing her.

"Whatever happened to Lindsey McDonald?" she asked.

"He's dead… He hated Angel, tried to kill him several times, manipulated him a lot, and eventually one of our friends shot him to stop him from causing more damage."

Erica hid the hurt on her face. "Was he evil?" she asked.

"He was a lawyer."

"I'm serious. "

"Why do you ask?"

"I… I met him." Erica admitted, as Angel finished his phone call and joined them. "I met Lindsey when I went through the portal to about five years ago. He didn't seem so bad to me. Well, not all the time. "

The guys took a moment to absorb the information. "Yeah," Angel started saying, "he almost came over to our side at one point, then Wolfram and Hart tempted him with a lot of money and power. He chose them. Later, when he got his arm back, we had a truce for a while to help some victims of the law firm, then he left town and came back a couple of years later with more power and a grudge against me."

"So he almost joined you, but kept making the wrong choices." Erica tried to get it clear.

"You could say that." Angel agreed.

"So when exactly did you see him?" Spike asked.

"Oh, I helped him get his hand back"

"I was the one who removed it." Angel said.

"Yeah, that part bugged me." Erica said. "He was a human, and maybe he wasn't always a nice one, but how could you do that?"

"If I hadn't done it Cordelia would have died. Taking the hand was the least I could do; I could have just killed him. He was going to burn the prophecy that had the words to save her life."

"Oh." Erica was quiet for a moment. "I saw Cordelia too, in the hospital bed. That's actually where I got sent, to when Cordelia was in pain from her visions. It kind of makes sense because that's what I was concentrating on when I made the portal." She sighed. "I helped her so that it didn't hurt her but I wasn't strong enough to make her wake up. I guess I really changed that reality. The oracles told me that I accidentally made it into a new one." She shrugged. "At least I didn't screw up anything in this reality."

"So what's going to happen there?" Spike asked.

"I don't know. I guess it's going to continue on its course until I'm strong enough to fix what happened."

"What do you mean, fix?" Angel asked.

"It's already a different reality," Erica explained, "but not permanent and it's not supposed to exist. I think I'm supposed to erase it."

"An entire dimension?" Spike asked with some disbelief.

"Yeah, and everyone in it." She looked sad. "I think on some level I knew that, even while I was there. I knew I didn't belong. I didn't want to get attached to anything."

"So what else did you do there?" Spike asked.

"Got kidnapped twice, spent a night and a day in Wolfram & Hart's custody because I went there thinking you worked there, I got rescued twice by Lindsey, was thrown around a couple of times by both men and demons and survived another encounter with vampires." Erica said it lightly as though things like that happened every day.

"Lindsey turned against Wolfram and Hart for you?" Angel asked with raised eyebrows.

Erica nodded. "He even went to Angel Investigations for help to get me away from them."

"'Boy never could keep his loyalties straight." Spike said condescendingly.

"No," Erica agreed, looking at the floor. "But I wonder how he would have turned out…"

888

_One of them probably did it. One of them was the killer. They'd taken away the only thing she cared about. She was going to take her revenge on them and the people they cared about. They would pay in blood. If she had to suffer then so would they._

**AN: I am evil, and therefore I'm leaving the Erica/Lindsey bit there… for a while anyway. **

**And so ends Part 3, 'Off the beaten path'. I don't know what I'm going to call the next part yet. **

… **Oh, hell, I'll give you one last mini-teaser chapter because I'm a softie, and because I started rushing the last two chapters to finish in time for exam revision. Maybe when I've got time I'll come back and try to polish them up a bit. (This is Erica's dream; it was never one of mine)**

20.1: The first dream

Erica was angry, and the water churned and boiled beneath her body. The heat didn't even seem to damage her skin as she swam to the other end of the pool. She kicked at the water behind her and half-slapped it with her arms as she freestyle-swam from end to end.

It was nighttime, and some light outside gave her the ability to see, but the indoor lights were off. The blue tiles were light grey in the half-light. She had no idea how long she'd been swimming for. There was a dull ache in her body that was ignored in favour of her temperament.

At one end she almost didn't stop as she grabbed for the edge of the pool and pulled herself up and out of the water. The water sucked at her legs, pulling at her. She didn't let it hold her and pulled herself free of it. _She_ was in control here, and no atmosphere would hold her against her will.

She realised that her anger had been weighing her down, or it had tried to. Again, she told herself that she was in control and the atmosphere became cooler and less heavy. She walked through an open doorway with exercise mats on the floor and boxing bags hung up at the end of the room.

She was dry, and she pulled a white t-shirt over her black bathers and pulled on some denim shorts. Barefoot, she ran toward a big, heavy black bag with red tape stuck at head-height. She jumped and slammed the bag with a back-kick. The chain broke and the bag tumbled to the ground and rolled to hit the wall.

She shrugged her shoulders, flicked her legs a little and rolled her head, trying to keep her muscles loose. She was strong here, and nothing could touch her if she didn't let it. Here, she was everything she wanted to be; super-athletic and powerful. She cart wheeled and back-flipped to prove to herself that she could do anything. She landed easily on her feet and approached the next bag.

It was blue and she started punching it. With her thoughts she made it tough enough that it could withstand her blows. She hit it and hit it and ignored the nagging feeling at the back of her mind. She wouldn't let it slow her down. She wouldn't let it affect her.

… Oh hell, she couldn't help it.

The bag split open and hundreds of seeds started spilling out of it to scatter onto the floor. She looked down at her hands and saw that they were bruised and slightly bloody. She had lost her focus and now she was hurt because of it. She took a step backward, holding her hands up in front of her.

"You've hurt yourself," a voice said from behind her. His voice rumbled pleasantly through her skin. Arms encircled her waist and pulled her to the person behind her. She knew who it was, but didn't want to admit to herself that she had let him find her here. She was supposed to be in control, but now she was found and bleeding.

"I didn't mean to let this happen," she said, still looking down at her bruised knuckles.

"You don't have to fight me," he said to her, "you'll have enough things to fight. I still want to help you."

"I wish you could," Erica said, still not turning to face him, "but you're so far away."

"I'm a guest here. But the longer you stay with me," he said, tightening his grip a little, "the closer I can get."

"Only if I let you. Why did you let me go if you knew I wasn't coming back?" she asked.

"I had to. I'd been selfish enough already. You needed to go home," he answered. "It would have been selfish to keep you with me."

Erica dropped her arms and turned around. She put her hands on his face and looked at his eyes. No trickery, no guile; nothing but clear blue-grey that caught her up and drowned her unhappy thoughts, sucking them from her mind to make them vanish, and making her feel better instantly. She kissed him and put her arms around his shoulders.

He let her finish before he pulled back again to see her face. "Do you forgive me?" he whispered, with his left arm around her waist and his right hand up at her cheek.

"Well, I'm in your arms, aren't I?" Erica replied with a smile and kissed him again.

"Was it really that easy?" he asked her, while playing with a loose curl of hair behind her ear. "To forget, I mean."

She paused. "I don't forget Lindsey, but I forgive. If we were going to live forever then it might be reasonable to hold a grudge, but it's not worth it. Not when I know you have my best interests at heart. I'll let it go. Don't let _me_ go."

"I have to," he whispered, and gently kissed her forehead.

888

Somewhere, in a reality that was never meant to be, Lindsey McDonald opened his eyes and whispered Erica's name.

**888**


	21. Unwelcome Guests

AN: Standard disclaimers apply. To Spikeluva: Yes they did, and yes it is. Speaking from personal experience. 

**Part 4: Revenge**

**21: Unwelcome Guests**

Erica's fingers paused above the keyboard. The last chapter of her life was not something she wanted published. She had been doing so well with her writing up until now, but she didn't want to turn what had happened to her the month before into a story.

For one thing, she hadn't told the others all of the details about what had happened between she and Lindsey. Occasionally she let Angel check her stories for mistakes to do with demon lore. He'd already said that he was interested in everything she'd seen in the other reality, and was looking forward to reading a detailed account of it. Erica got the feeling he suspected that more had gone on than she'd indicated.

It was private. She and Cordelia were not quite at the stage to have 'girl-talk' of that serious a degree, even though they were getting along. She didn't really know anyone outside of Angel Investigations. The other students at Multimedia were just that: other students. She didn't really talk to anyone else at the gym either.

She'd dreamt about it, but while awake she was still looking for the answer to her question. Did she forgive him yet? It was easy to forgive in a dream, when she wasn't weighed down by principle and regret. Still, she was sure she would have, if she'd been given the time. She wanted to. But she was separated from him now, and when she returned she would have to kill him. Not personally, but he didn't exist in the 'real' reality, and she was going to erase the other one.

She knew that instead of trying to answer a question that wouldn't matter, she should be trying to forget him, and make things easier on herself. She had enough to think about besides places and people that only existed because of her carelessness.

She wanted to stop thinking about it. She closed down the laptop and left her bedroom to sit on the couch in the lounge area, to watch some late-night TV. Only Cordelia was home with her, asleep in her own bedroom. All three vampires were out hunting. It was the night before the full moon, and Nina still hadn't been stopped. They had gone out to find her, and whomever she may have converted to her cause against humans. They had an entire city to search; so all three had needed to go on the hunt if they were to find her before she had a chance to hurt someone.

There was no guarantee of a one-on-one fight, especially if Nina had been looking for allies, so the girls had been left at home for their own safety. Cordelia was completely human, and Erica had so far only gone up one weight level in her training, so her slayer abilities were obviously still a long time away.

She'd been right about starting to heal quicker, but it was still just as painful to get hit so Erica hadn't been testing out the theory of her changes much. It was still only a small improvement on human healing, but she could somehow feel that she was just beginning to toughen up. Cordy was right, the more she practiced, and the more she trained and exposed herself to the nasties of the world, the sooner she would start to improve, and bring out her abilities; both Slayer and Guardian related.

She'd still put one of the vampires between her and a blow to protect herself; because they could take it and keep fighting (and besides, that's exactly what they were there for; to protect her), but she felt that where other humans were concerned that she would be marginally better at taking the injury. It was something that she'd thought about since the bruise had disappeared from her cheek.

She wasn't exactly brave, or stupid, but she wasn't a coward either. She'd learnt in her old self-defence classes that she needed to be able to ignore some pain in order to stay capable of helping herself out of dangerous situations. If you were in a fight you were likely to get hit at some point. She hated feeling helpless, and pain was good at doing that to you, so she'd learnt to deal with it as much as possible. Pain was pain, but staying alive was generally worth it - so far she'd never been in enough pain to doubt that principle.

She was lounging on the couch in her pyjama pants and a tank top and watching a documentary about wolves. It was interesting how many parallels she found between them and the werewolves she'd almost gotten killed by last month. They'd gone after her because she was human; weak compared to them. She glanced at the window, even though the curtains were drawn, and thought of the moon outside. It was a weird coincidence that the wolf documentary was on tonight, but the TV producers had probably thought it was as good a time slot as any.

An ad came on and she got up to get a drink of water. She was usually a night person by now anyway, but she didn't want to keep herself buzzed with coffee either if she didn't have anything to do tonight. She'd still take advantage of sleep when she could get it. She looked back at the curtain that was backlit by the light of the moon, and thought she saw something move from one side to the other.

The fire escape was always a possible escape route, but it was also an entry point for nasties. The fact that they were on the eighth floor, roommates with a vampire, and in a reasonable neighbourhood had prevented Angel from suggesting they get another apartment. Demons and other creeps wouldn't come to their window unless they specifically wanted something or someone in their apartment, which meant they already had to know about the tenants.

The likelihood of being a random break-and-enter by anything was slim, so Erica jumped as soon as her instincts told her that someone was outside their window. Someone who was being very quiet, and whose shadow had only been there for the fraction of an instant when they'd had to cross in front of the window.

All of the windows, the front door; all of the outer entrances were locked. If they were willing to break in noisily, she had seconds. If they were trying to be stealthy, she had longer. She left the TV on; they'd have already heard it. It was the only light and noise source on in the apartment.

She ran to the bathroom. She wanted to make some kind of noise to draw them that sounded natural enough that they wouldn't think she or Cordelia were alert, so she turned on the shower and drew the curtain back across. The noise would also help mask whatever sounds she and Cordelia might make. She hit the panic button that was above the light switch. There was a panic button in every room; Angel was still a little paranoid, but at least he'd cleared it with the girls before deciding to add them.

The guys all had beepers. They were silent so that if they were hunting something they wouldn't give their position away, but if a panic button was hit then the beepers would vibrate and tell the boys that there were troubles at home. It also worked if the girls phoned their numbers from elsewhere, but that wouldn't tell anyone where they were in trouble, only that they were in trouble. The girls had a beeper each as well, in case one was out while the other was at home. Hopefully Cordy's was by her bed, close enough to be heard, but in any case Erica was going to wake her up anyway.

She shut and locked the bathroom door behind her, hoping that whoever it was would waste time by trying to get in there first. Erica knocked softly, twice and then pushed open the door. She'd bothered to knock because she didn't want Cordelia to attack her if she'd already been woken by the beeper making the small buzzing noise nearby.

Cordelia was sitting up; she'd heard it or maybe the shower starting, but she was still a little groggy from sleep. "Get up, now" Erica whispered. She got to her knees and reached under Cordelia's bed. She wasn't much of a fighter, but Cordelia had a small hand- axe and a holy water bottle under there anyway. God bless paranoia, or caution; whatever Angel and Lawson wanted to call it. She'd never thought to assume that the shadow might have been just that; an unthreatening shadow, so maybe she was getting paranoid too. If it kept her alive, she didn't care.

Cordelia was wearing similar nightclothes as Erica; drawstring pyjama pants and a short-sleeved top. She pushed her covers off and got to her feet. "What is it?" she asked in the same hushed tone that Erica had used.

"'Don't know," Erica said, pulling out the holy water and axe and offering one to Cordelia. "But something's outside the living room window."

Cordelia didn't ask anything else and decided on the holy water. Erica was the one who was training with weapons, not her, though Cordelia was supposed to start learning to defend herself too. Human or not, they both knew that Erica had already gotten better than her, so she took the defensive weapon. Vampires couldn't enter without permission, but vampires weren't the only demons that reacted badly to holy water, even if it was only useful as a deterrent. There were a few more weapons in Erica and Lawson's rooms but they didn't know how much time they had to get anything.

"The others should be coming," Erica whispered, "but do you want to stay hidden or try for the front door?"

"Don't know how far away they are," Cordelia said, "might not get here in time to help; we need to get out of here," she decided. Erica nodded; she'd been thinking the same thing.

"Use the kitchen as cover, if it's not already inside we dash for the door," Erica reminded them both. Living the lives they did, they'd already come up with some strategies for dealing with intruders, just in case.

They went to the door and Erica listened for a moment before opening it a crack. The drawback to the shower and TV masking their noise was that it also made it hard to hear where an intruder was. Whatever it was seemed to be trying for stealth so she crouched and duck-walked with one hand for support on the carpet to around the corner to the kitchen. Cordelia quietly left the door a little ajar, in case they had to dash back and lock it behind them.

The lounge room was clear, but the window was open, the bathroom door was open, and Erica and Lawson's bedroom doors were open. All had been closed when Erica had entered Cordelia's room. It or they could have been anywhere; to the front or behind them, which meant there might have been no retreat.

The front door was shut, so maybe the outside hallway was clear and they'd only come in from outside the building. Erica mouthed the word 'Go', to Cordelia and they dashed forward. Cordelia got to the door first, with Erica looking back behind them. Cordelia dropped the bottle and used both hands to undo the locks while Erica guarded her back with the axe gripped in both hands.

Cordelia's shriek made Erica half-turn around, her head whipping back to see what it was. A man-shaped figure in black clothes had his arm around Cordelia's neck. He had a gun which was pointed at Erica, so she was pretty sure that it was a man and not a demon.

She heard something else in the room behind her and looked back to see another black clothed man coming out of her bedroom, and another coming from the direction of the bathroom around the corner. Both had guns pointed at her. She didn't know enough about guns to know what type, but she suspected that they were military or something because they were long, two-handed weapons that sat under the shoulder. Also that fact that the men had matching uniforms and wore black facemasks made her think they were professional.

The order was professional sounding too. "Drop the weapon, now, or we'll take it from you."

If they wanted the girls dead already they'd have just shot them. An axe against guns wasn't a huge threat, but they seemed to want the girls alive and unarmed. Erica wasn't brave or reckless enough to test any assumptions that they wanted them both alive, or about how much they were willing to hurt them, so she did as she was told. If they want you alive but look willing to hurt you, just do as you're told. Pick the battles that you're likelier to win, unless they've given you no other alternative. Erica had been given an alternative; give up and avoid harm.

Besides, giving up never had to be permanent; they could start fighting back at any time, and it was time that she was concerned about. If she could draw this out, the guys might get back before anything serious happened to the girls.

She slowly and deliberately took one hand off the axe and started raising the empty hand at her side as non-threateningly as she could. The other hand let the axe lower closer to the floor, and she let the shaft slide through her hand so that the head of it was against her skin. She half-bent her knees because she didn't want to chop her foot off when she dropped it to the floor, and the men didn't object to her being careful. She kept her eyes on the man with Cordy, and he kept his eyes on hers. He seemed to be the one to give orders, so she wanted to make it clear to him above all others that she was submitting.

Although she didn't want anything as serious as decapitated toes she let one of the points of the axe graze her hand. Little more than a scratch; it took a few seconds for blood to start to show. She dug a little deeper, trying to keep it from doing permanent damage, but wanting a good cut that would bleed. The axe was sharp, and didn't deny her what she wanted.

The axe was clean, so she wouldn't get an infection unless she left the wound open, but she never forgot that her protectors were vampires. They were experts on blood. She'd discovered first-hand that they could track someone by the smell of blood alone.

She kept the leader's eyes fixed on her own and not on what she was doing, as if she could hypnotise him. As long as the others didn't realise and object to what she was doing (which could have been accidental as far as they were concerned), she was okay.

She left the axe on the floor and stood up just as slowly as she'd bent down, raising her other hand now. She'd go quietly as long as they didn't try to hurt her or Cordelia, but she was still going to quietly defy them by giving the vampires as much help as possible to rescue them. She wasn't especially brave, but she wasn't stupid either.

"What do you want?" Erica asked the man with Cordelia. "We haven't done anything wrong."

The man didn't seem to be in the mood for stalling. He nodded to the man in Erica's doorway, who came forward and pulled Erica's wrists behind her back. This was familiar in a way she didn't want to remember, although this time she didn't struggle. The palms of her hands were left facing outward, and the light was poor so maybe they wouldn't see that she was bleeding. The man behind her was brusque and professional, but didn't bother to pat her down as she'd half expected. 'Probably had something to do with the fact that she was in sleepwear.

The feeling of vulnerability wasn't much considering that she had much bigger problems than being bare-shouldered and bra-less in front of strangers, no wait, scratch that: strange men. She hadn't seen a single woman among the intruders, though with the black gear she couldn't be positive.

A man who had been out of sight in the outside hallway had come forward to deal with Cordelia the same way, leaving the leader's hands free. Four men so far. The man had a coat with him, and put it over Cordelia's shoulders to cover her, and another coat was draped over Erica's shoulders too.

Cordelia was pulled firmly but not roughly out of sight, and Erica was pushed forward by the man behind her to follow them. The man at the bathroom walked forward too. They were very definitely leaving. The leader held a hand up to make them pause and spoke to the girls. "If you scream we will kill anyone that comes to help you. It's up to you if people are going to die tonight. Is that clear?"

"Our neighbour is nearly deaf," Cordelia said quietly, out of Erica's sight, "and the guy across the hall has a night job. No one needs to die." She made it clear that they understood no one was there to help them.

The man might have made an expression under the mask for all anyone else knew, but he nodded and the girls were led outside. They took the stairs, all eight floors of them. There was a parking garage beneath the building, and the girls were led to a waiting van.

If this was a bad spy movie it might have been black, or with a fake business sign on the side, but it was light brown without any real identifying markings. It wasn't shiny new, but it wasn't beat-up or anything either. Just a normal, inconspicuous van. There were only windows in the front end, so the only visible person was the driver, who was already in plain clothes.

Everyone but the leader hopped in the back. Erica managed to brush the back of her hand against the door as the got in, acting natural as she did it. As they drove away the girls were able to see that the leader was putting his black gear in a big garbage bag. The back of his head revealed sandy blonde hair cut short. A white t-shirt that had been underneath his gear was covered by a brown jacket. He didn't seem to fiddle with his pants, and they were just black pants anyway so he could pass them off as normal clothes. Joe Normal, sure.

Erica was in the back seat with a man either side of her, and Cordelia was in the centre seat against the wall with a man between her and the door. Cordelia glanced back and Erica saw that she was pale, and she didn't feel so great herself either. They were being quiet and submissive, and it wasn't difficult to see that they were nervous. They couldn't really tell where they were going because of the lack of windows.

Erica was sure that they'd been watching the place before they'd tried to get in, because it couldn't have been coincidence that they had only come when there was no one but the girls in the apartment. That indicated planning. Who wanted her and Cordelia that bad that they'd send trained men after them? Wolfram and Hart was nonexistent, Angel had assured her of that. Or at least it was in the LA area. The buildings had all collapsed for the other branches, but it was possible that the people working there were still trying to do their job and take revenge on him.

Angel and Spike were not well liked in the demon world either, but she doubted that demons would hire men to kidnap the vampires' weaker human allies. It was much more likely that someone human was the one who'd given these guys their orders. Someone who was serious enough to let their men threaten innocent people. In theory, the good guys weren't supposed to do that, so somehow Erica didn't think these guys were working for the human government or the human military, no matter how professionally they worked and looked.

She didn't know anything for sure except that she was getting tired of being chased and captured. At least this time they hadn't hit her, yet. If they hurt Cordy, at least she could reverse it – she'd reattached entire hands before. Or at least, she could have if she had a way to make fire. Her old lighter had been left with Lindsey, and her new one was by the front door of her apartment. If they hurt her, she would probably be able to heal it. How far were they willing to go, and how much could she and Cordelia take? What did they want?

**888**


	22. Share my pain

**AN: This chapter get a little harsh, but things will get better before the end.**

22: Share my pain

There had been a message on the machine when the vampires made it back from their hunting areas. Spike had been the first to return, just minutes too late by the smell of the blood. He had caught the last few words of the message, but had missed the chance to pick up the phone. Angel was next, and then Lawson. Spike told them who had given them the message.

"Eve." He said, and pushed the playback button so they could hear her full message.

"The girls are fine, for now. They won't stay that way unless Angel and Spike find Lindsey's killer. I know you two were involved, but it wasn't one of you who did it. I know it wasn't the new guy either. It was either Gunn, or it was Lorne. You have until tomorrow night, and then we're going to do a trade if you want the girls back. Someone is going to suffer for this, and if it's not the killer, or not you, Angel, then I will settle for the girls you seem to like so much. Find the killer if you can, then wait by the phone and tomorrow night I'll tell you where to come. If you try to track them, I'll start sending you body parts in the mail. You can figure it out for yourself which part belonged to whom. Ciao."

Angel shook his head. "She's lying. She's going to hurt them anyway. She'll do anything to hurt us, to hurt me, and she's going to use them to do it."

888

'What is it with bad guys and warehouses?' Erica thought to herself as they arrived. 'Although, this was really a barn rather than a warehouse.'

They had driven for a couple of hours, and it was going to get light soon. There was an old barn with crosses on the doors. Vampires didn't seem to be welcome there. The girls were led inside, with the coats still over their shoulders. The driver moved the van out of sight once they'd left it. There was a young blonde woman sitting on top of a crate. She was wearing a long brown jacket, a long green skirt, brown high heels and a pale green lace shirt.

"No problems, Gregory?" she asked as they approached, getting up off the crate.

"None," the blonde guy replied, "they came quietly". The rest of the men started pulling off their masks.

It was never good when the bad guys let you see what they looked like. It usually meant that anyone who saw them was unlikely to be able to identify them later.

The girls were pushed forward to stand barefoot on the straw covered dirt ground. The woman stepped forward to get a closer look at Erica and Cordelia.

"What's going on?" Cordelia asked. "We haven't done anything."

"No," the woman agreed, "but rescuing the innocent is Angel's thing, isn't it? Why go after a preternaturally strong vampire when you can get him to come to you?"

"Told you," Erica muttered to Cordelia, "you owe me twenty."

Eve raised her eyebrows.

"They made a bet about which vampire got them in trouble," Gregory explained, "out of Angel or the one called Spike."

"You think this is some kind of joke?" Eve asked calmly.

"No," Erica answered, "it's just a little bit predictable, that's all. We're nothing; we're not fighters, we're just friends with people who easily manage to piss other people off. And you're right; it's easier to go after the humans than vampires. So what did he do to you?"

"He gave the order to kill the man I gave up my immortality for. Then he had the nerve to come back and throw it in my face; to tell me I had nothing left."

"Nothing left but your revenge, right?" Cordelia asked.

"Yeah," Eve said with a smile at them. It was a sweet little smile, but there was no humour in her eyes. "Nothing left to do but share my pain."

888

The three souled vampires weren't going to bother trying to find Lorne. They weren't going to give him up, even if they could have tracked him down in time, and it wouldn't stop Eve from doing whatever she was going to do. They did call backup, though. Two of the people they called were unavailable, and others were out of town, but they did find someone to help.

888

Eve had a thing for crosses. The girls weren't sure that she knew that the vampires were immune to them, but is she did she didn't seem to care. After a little while, Erica and Cordelia were past caring either.

Erica had been the one with the smart mouth, so she was the first to be branded. A cross-shaped brand had been heated up on a portable gas burner. Eve did the branding personally, while one of the men held Erica's head still. Erica couldn't help but scream when it was pushed up against her left cheek, and she jerked in the man's grip. Her skin was seared and clung to the metal as it was pulled away. The world went red, and the world was nothing but pain.

Eve hadn't even done it properly. She hadn't let the metal glow to red-hot, and she hadn't pushed it hard enough, but that didn't mean it wouldn't hurt, and there would still be a mark for the vampires to see what she'd done.

Eve faltered when the brand had stuck, but she set her mouth in a grim line and motioned for them to hold Cordelia still. She didn't have enough nerve to go for the face this time, so she went for a bare bit of skin just below Cordelia's left collarbone. Erica's mind had cleared just enough to register the smell of cooked meat, and she heard Cordelia's shrill crying.

Eve did it a few more times over the next hour, up and down their arms, then took a breath and threw the brand aside. "Bring it in," she said, and one of the men, the driver, got up to do as he was told. "One of you lucky girls is going to be left alone for the rest of the day. Except for one more thing."

Again with the cross, but this one was much bigger, and made of wood. In a flash, Erica knew what was going to happen. Eve thought the vampires would be deterred by it; she had to. In theory, they wouldn't be able to pull down the person they put up there; they would have to stand there just out of reach and watch her suffer. Well, she'd suffer, but at least, Erica was sure, they could help her once they arrived.

"Eenie, meenie…" Eve started, and then pointed at Cordelia. "You. You much of a Christian?" she asked.

Erica was pulled back out of the way and was punched in the stomach when she tried to struggle. She was left gasping on the floor as Cordelia's hands were freed. Cordelia realised what they were doing and started screaming, so they gagged her. Erica rolled over and over toward them and kicked at the one nearest to her, trying to distract them so they wouldn't hurt her roommate. Her face was still throbbing, and one of the men kicked her in the head, connecting with the same cheek. Erica slumped back to the ground, conscious but dazed. She couldn't do anything but listen.

Eve didn't do it herself this time; she let Gregory nail Cordelia's hands to the cross, but they tied the feet on. Eve did go over to Erica and roll her over so she could see what was happening to her friend. The entire point of the tortures was to show others, to let them know that Eve was hurting and that she was unforgiving. When they were finished they propped Cordelia up against the wall so she could see what happened to Erica. Cordy sobbed through her gag.

"You think you're getting away with something?" Eve asked Erica, kneeling down beside her but managing not to put her knees in the dirt. "Well, she's the one who's getting left alone for the rest of the day. Not you. If it makes you feel any better, I'm sure someone is going to manage to save her, and she'll be able to tell them everything that happened to you two. She'll be able to tell them that they were only just too late to save you."

She leaned closer to whisper in Erica's ear like a confidante. "I've got some more vampires coming after dark. They'll nearly drain you first, then make you feed, but before you die I'll let you drown first. Weighed down by lead crosses so that when you wake up you'll burn, even while you're soggy. You think one of your friends is going to chop you head off maybe?"

"This one's the fighter," Gregory said. "She had an axe with her when we found them."

"Hmm," Eve said. "You like being able to fight back, don't you?" she asked. "I've been watching you for a couple of nights, you know? Why don't you boys give her a fight?"

Erica was yanked to her feet by her hair. Eve stepped out of the way as someone freed Erica's hands. She didn't know what to do. She was surrounded, outnumbered, and weapon-less. She didn't have to pretend to be hurt, and she slumped to her knees, cradling her stomach and swaying forward a little, trying to stall so that she could figure something out, and deal with the pain. Someone behind her grabbed her under the armpits and hauled her back to her feet. She had nothing to lose so she smacked her head back.

Like Brad the vampire, the man behind her let her go. The pounding in Erica's head increased, and her vision blurred. Someone punched her in the stomach. "Nothing too permanent!" Eve called out. Great. They were allowed to brand her and eventually kill her, but for now they were only allowed to make her bruise and bleed.

She swung out her elbow but she still couldn't see and missed the blurry figure. Someone slapped her face. She wiped her mouth on the back of her hand, and it was bleeding, maybe from one of the earlier blows. Someone else tripped her over, and again her hair was grabbed and she was pulled back up.

This time when she was on her feet she grabbed the hand and finished the move she'd meant to use on Michaels last month. She spun around, stepping into him as she threw her weight into his arm. This time she heard something crack; she'd broken the arm. She spun around again as someone tried to grab at her and just missed her arm; she'd felt their fingers brush it.

She found the hair-puller's throat with her fingers and dug her nails in around his trachea. At the same time her leg had come up behind his head, despite her aching stomach, and she swung it down to sweep his foot out from under him. She pushed back with her hand at the same time and knocked him off his feet.

Someone grabbed her around the waist from behind and threw her away from the guy. She hit the ground and rolled, letting herself keep rolling away to try and give herself to time to get her vision clear. Someone grabbed her foot and dragged her back. She kicked but didn't seem to connect hard enough to make him stop. Someone stomped on her leg and she screamed, flailing out with her arms. She still couldn't see straight.

She could hear though, and she heard someone else come into the barn. It was only midmorning, and they hadn't yet taken the crosses down from the doors, so it couldn't have been Eve's vampires. It was one of her allies though, because he went to her and spoke in her ear while Erica got kicked again, all over her torso and limbs by the various men.

"Shit!" Eve exclaimed. "Drown her, do it now!"

Someone grabbed Erica's other foot and dragged her, causing the pain in her leg to overwhelm her and she cried out. They dragged her outside to the river. Erica's back got scratched up by weeds and sticks and small stones. They rolled her over and grabbed her arms, shoving her forward. Erica's face hit the cold, mid-morning water and she scrabbled with her fingers and nails to pull herself back ,to scratch someone; _something_. They shoved her in past her shoulders, almost up to her elbows, holding her down.

The cold had almost made her gasp, but by sheer force of will she held her breath, because the first lungful of water would mark the end of her life. She wouldn't survive for long if she let herself breathe in. They held her down, pushing her further into the water, up to her thighs so that her arms thrashed in the water. Something heavy was shoved into her back and onto her head, and an edge of it dug in painfully.

Erica gave another violent struggle for a few moments and then tried to be still. Tried to relax, and to let them think she'd swallowed water already. Tried to let them think she was already dying. It was so hard, because she felt immense pressure on her chest to suck in air. Her face was going numb from the cold, especially the cross brand. What vision she had left wasn't clearing. It was failing her.

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Vampires can't fly, but the three with souls seemed to bound out of the car. Their 'backup' had been Willow Rosenberg, the witch. Over the phone she'd done a spell to locate the Seer and the young Guardian. Erica's instinct to spill blood had been a good one, but the kidnappers had driven too far for the girls to be tracked down in time to prevent serious harm from happening. Angel knew they hadn't had enough time to track them properly on their own.

It was helpful now that they were close, though, as they could smell blood belonging to both girls, and a little that belonged to one of the men too. Most of the men were still in the barn, so both Lawson and Angel ran for it, to try and stop them from doing anything more to Cordelia. Without being ordered to Spike followed the third scent, ignoring the sound of gunfire that erupted as the other two stormed the barn.

The shallow stream went close to the back of the barn. The two men pushing the large metal cross down onto the girl jerked back when they saw the vampire coming. One ran for it, the other went for his handgun. Spike punched him in the face, broke his hand with a flick of his wrist and threw him into the side of the barn, and he fell heavily to the ground. He let the other man go, for now.

Spike went forward and stepped into the water beside Erica. Even he shuddered at the coldness of the water. He wanted to be careful lifting the heavy object away from her but he couldn't help jerking it up and throwing it away. He looped an arm around her waist and pulled her back, wincing as he felt her hang limply away from him, her hair straggling in the water. He scrambled back out of the water and lay her down on her back, pausing only half an instant to let his fingers hover over her cheek, over her brand. He tilted her head back by cupping her chin in one hand and her forehead in the other.

Being partially human didn't stop him from knowing that there was the faintest of pulses. She was a fighter, and she was fighting. He was going to fight for her too. He pushed her hair out of her face and pinched her nose with his fingers. He breathed into her mouth and watched her chest rise and fall. He totally ignored the blood that he could taste on her lower lip. He did it again, and again, giving her a breath every five seconds. If he had been a full vampire he could not have done it; he had required Life in order to return it via resuscitation.

Finally she choked and gagged on the air and she reflexively rolled herself over to spit on the ground. She drew in deep, grating breaths and panted, giving more coughs every few seconds, her arms shaking as she tried to support herself with them. She looked very tired and worn, ready to fall over. Spike drew her backwards into his arms and sat her on his lap to rest, pulling his coat around her to shield her from the cool air. He rubbed her back and held her against him as she relearned how to breathe. She let her head rest against his neck, and closed her eyes. "It's going to be all right now, luv," Spike said quietly.

"Pick me up, Spike," she whispered. She looked up at him. "They hurt my leg, and I need to see Cordelia." That they'd hurt her was an understatement. Her leg was lying limply and it was starting to swell and bruise over the shin, and Erica winced and gave a pitiable whimper every time it was shifted. Some of the bruising was already beginning to show up on her face, arms, one of her shoulders, her stomach, back and legs, and she was shaking from the cold. She looked like a mess, but Spike leaned froward and kissed a space of unbruised skin on her forehead. Hurt as she was, she was more worried about Cordelia, and he thought that was amazing.

Erica leaned her head back against him as he shifted his legs and manoeuvred himself to his knees while still holding onto her. He lifted her up and cradled her in his arms. He spared a glance for the still unconscious man on the ground, and carried her back around the corner. The gunfire had stopped, and there were fallen men scattered on the dirt floor within the barn.

They heard another shriek from Cordelia as the boys pulled her down as gingerly as they could. "Bloody hell!" Spike muttered when he saw that they'd crucified her.

"They thought you wouldn't be able to save her," Erica said softly, "and that you'd have to let her suffer while she told you that you were too late for me."

"Where's Eve?" Spike asked.

"Ran away," Erica answered. "Someone told her you were on your way - in the middle of the day - and she panicked."

The boys had one of Cordelia's arms each around their shoulders and she hung between them. Her legs were fine but she was weak with shock.

"Is she okay?" Lawson asked when he looked up and saw that Spike had Erica, dripping wet in his arms. Her livid cheek was facing away from them and she turned her head to look over toward them. Lawson hissed when he saw the mark on her face. He'd thought that Cordelia's arms were bad enough, and Erica already had an identical line of burns down her own arms. Angel saw it too and he winced, the gesture having nothing to do with a vampire's rejection of religion. They set Cordelia down to sit on the ground, and Lawson stayed kneeling beside her, running his fingers through her hair and touching the edge of her cheek.

"Sammy…" Cordelia whispered, with her eyes half-open and not looking at him.

"I'll live," Erica spoke up a little louder to answer Lawson's question. Spike set Erica down next to Cordelia.

"She drowned," he said softly to Angel and Lawson. "She's been burned and got a broken leg too, and I don't know what kind of damage she might have under those bruises."

"I'm right here, I can hear you," Erica said, as she turned Cordelia's face toward her to see her gaze blankly at a point past her head. She didn't have any matches or anything with her, and the gas burner had been turned off. "Screw it," she muttered; she was going to try nonetheless. The gas burner was a source of fire, it was a source of life, and she knew that and let the knowledge flow through her mind.

She pulled up one of Cordelia's hands by the wrist and kissed it near the wound. Nothing happened at first, but she felt the tingling awaken, perhaps a little sluggishly, and it flowed from her to Cordelia. The holes closed up, the burns faded and even Cordelia's eyes seemed to brighten after staring vacantly. Cordelia blinked and shivered. The tingling was a nice feeling.

It was too much for Erica though, and she fell back in a faint. She never even realised that someone had managed to stop her head from smacking into the ground.

**AN: A couple more chapters in this Revenge segment, and then I'm starting it up as a new story, a sequel called "The other realms". I'll give you a teaser chapter at the end of "the blood of the ancients",to let you know what's going on.**


	23. Recovery

23: Recovery

Erica spent a few days in the hospital, but thanks to her, Cordelia didn't have to. Erica had the burns, which would scar, but not too badly because Eve hadn't done it properly. Her leg had been fractured, but it would heal, and the doctor had recommended her six to eight weeks until she could get the cast off. They were worried about internal damage after the beating she'd taken, but her X-rays came out clear. She was going to be all right.

She didn't let the hurt leg stop her from learning, though. She did a lot of demon research over the next few weeks, practiced making portals that went where they were supposed to, and kept learning basic moves with the smaller weapons. Her dexterity and speed improved a lot, and she got the crossbow reloading and firing down pat.

She started learning a new trick with the portals and a mirror at the bottom of a bucket of water. She was supposed to be able to see a reflection but she'd mostly just seen the bottom of the bucket, so the mirror had been suggested.

It hadn't worked yet, but she was supposed to be able to monitor the Midrealm from wherever she was, as well as the bridges between realms so that she could tell when they were being used or if they needed to be repaired, which would ultimately be her job. Cordelia told her that it probably hadn't worked because she hadn't seen any of the other realms yet, so it was harder for her to visualise any of them.

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The three vampires had at least managed to track Nina down, though they hadn't caught her that night. The good thing about being impervious to sunlight was that they picked her up during the day when she was in human form and didn't expect them to come for her.

Angel wouldn't kill her while she was a woman, but the local police stations had been wising up and had organised a demon investigations unit. They still weren't acknowledging the existence of demons publicly, but it was the beginning of the end of human ignorance.

Angel relinquished custody of Nina to one of the officers and they locked her up, pending proof of her existence as a werewolf. The next night they would be sure. She was going to be released on the days that weren't full moon, and given the choice to find her own control methods for her affliction, or else she would be picked up and kept locked up for the three nights a month that she was a danger to society. They already had a wolf who'd turned himself in, and they treated him fairly.

Daniel 'Oz' Osborne later heard about the unit and volunteered to be a counsellor to known werewolves. He'd been out of the country for a while, but he'd come back about the same time as the last Hellmouth Apocalypse. He'd been working with some monks and scientists about designing a sort of puffer administration device for a convenient supplement of the herbs he took daily to keep from wolfing out. It still required meditation to keep the attacks at bay, but an extra touch of the herbs made it easier for him to stay human, and he'd thought it might be helpful for others who were trying to control their wolf side.

Angel knew that Nina would disappear as soon as the third night was up, but he didn't have any proof that she was wilfully trying to kill and infect people. If the police had proof that she was knowingly endangering people without remorse, then they could lock her up. For now, she was just a disabled citizen.

Eve had run away again, leaving the men she hired to be beaten and questioned by the vampires. They were just mercenaries doing their job, and they didn't really know anything about Eve except that she'd paid them to follow orders. They were human, so Angel Spike and Lawson let most of them go, but Gregory disappeared. The girls were never told what happened to him, but were assured that 'he won't be back'.

At the time the three vampires were so angry about what had happened to Erica and Cordelia that almost none of the men made it out alive, but Cordelia's returned good health had helped to soften their ire. The ones they found had got a beating, but were still breathing when the cops arrived to pick them up following an anonymous tip about their being armed vigilantes. Most of them were found to have criminal records anyway, which helped to get them locked up. The girls had been through enough, so the vampires didn't mention them when they made the call.

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/Five weeks after the kidnapping./

"Hi," Cordelia said with a great big smile, after opening the door to the apartment. She leaned forward to give the man in front of her a hug. "Oh, my god, Oz, it's been like, forever!" She was wearing a black halter top dotted with silver sparkles and black pants. She'd left her hair down with some of it pulled back in a black clip, and was wearing gold hoop earrings.

"Yeah," Oz replied, returning the hug. He was dressed up too, or at least, for Oz he was. He wore his old brown jacket over a very dark brown button-up shirt and black pants. He'd let his hair grow out so that it hung just past his ears. "Well I'm glad you called and invited me along. It'll be my first time out since I moved here. "

"Come in," Cordelia said, stepping aside for him. "I'll introduce you to Erica and Sam. Spike's on his way here."

Oz gave a strange smile. "How long did it take you to get used to working with Spike?"

"Well, I normally do the desk-work, and he does the violent stuff, so we don't interact too much, but he's actually been pretty nice, at least to us girls, since he got his soul back. I mean," she gave a shrug, "he's still Spike, so he's annoying sometimes, especially to Angel, but he does help out when it comes to the fighting."

Lawson was sitting on the couch, and he stood up to say hi to Oz. "Oz, this is Sam Lawson." Cordelia said, and the two guys shook hands. Cordelia walked past them toward Erica's door and knocked. "Hey Rika, are you ready?"

"Almost," Erica called back, "I'll be out in a sec."

She came out wearing a long-sleeved, black button-up shirt and black jeans. She had a thigh-length dark brown wool coat hanging over her arm and she was wearing low heeled dark brown, closed-in shoes. Her naturally straight hair was down, and some of it was brushed to hang over her left cheek, covering most of her scar. She was wearing silver earrings and a silver chain with her cross tucked under her shirt. She'd outlined her eyes in black, put shiny gloss on her lips and had some brown eye shadow on. She looked gorgeous, especially for a torture victim.

"Hi," she said to Oz, "I'm Erica." She caught it when his gaze skipped from her eyes to her cheek and back, but she didn't flinch. "Wanna see?" she asked calmly. She pushed her hair back to show him the scar. It was paler than the rest of her skin, and didn't look red anymore. It had been getting better every day and from a distance it was invisible.

"Ouch." Oz said sympathetically.

Erica just nodded and let the hair fall back. "I got the cast off my leg this morning," she explained. "So we're all going out for drinks to celebrate, as soon as Spike gets back from that Mohra demon mission."

"Angel's not coming with us?" Oz asked.

"He's not much for the bar room scene, or at least not in this century he isn't," Cordelia explained, "and besides, Buffy's in town for the weekend, so he took her out to dinner."

Oz smiled. "You think they'll make it this time?" he asked.

Cordelia shrugged. "There's no curse, so maybe."

Spike had a key to the apartment and he came in with a bloody sword over his shoulder. "Sorry I'm late," he said. He had a cut down his face that continued on his chest, and the blood was drying, smudged on his skin.

Oz gave him a careful look but didn't say anything. The last time they'd met, Spike had been harmless, but not good, although they'd never tested the theory of whether Spike was able to do damage to a werewolf while they were in human form. It didn't matter anyway now because Spike didn't have a chip in his head and wasn't likely to attack him.

Erica shook her head when she saw the wound. "You okay?" she asked.

"I'll live," Spike said with a grin. "Don't worry, I'll clean it up a bit before we go."

"Don't bother," Erica said, walking toward him. "I've been getting much better at this." She kissed him on his clean cheek. Spike half-closed his eyes and the wound disappeared. Erica gripped the collar of his black coat for a moment and then stepped back with a little smile, the nausea having passed quicker than normal. Oz raised his eyebrows.

"I ought to get cut up more often," Spike said with a smile. Erica wasn't sure how to answer that so she just shrugged, wiped the gloss off of his cheek with her finger and took the sword from him. There was a dark towel on the bench and she used it to wipe off the blood. By now she knew how to hold and take care of a sword without hurting herself. There was a large weapon's chest in the front corner of the living room and she left the sword inside.

"If everyone's in one piece now then I'd say we're ready," she said, "only let's not go to Benny's Bar." Spike gave a little chuckle and the others wondered what the joke was. Erica explained about her first vampire kill on the way out when Cordy asked her.

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Erica, Cordelia and Oz sat on stools at the table they'd gotten. Just for something different, Spike had taken them to a demon bar he knew about. No one at their table was normal anyway. Vampires, Seers, Guardians and Werewolves, Oh my!

"So what, did you survive a werewolf attack?" Erica asked Oz, "It must've been intense."

Oz smiled. "Actually, I was tickling my cousin Jordy and he bit me. After my second night of wolfing out I realised that he was the werewolf that got me."

Erica looked surprised. "You can … I don't want to use the word _infect_, but, uh, you can pass it on while you're human?"

Oz nodded. "But only if you break the skin and draw blood."

"Erica's had a hairy encounter of her own," Cordelia said, "she's even captured a werewolf by herself."

"Really? How did you manage that?" Oz asked.

"Uh," Erica began with an embarrassed smile, "I led it into a very sophisticated trap made out of a slippery floor, a dark room and a volleyball net. Really high-tech." She rolled her eyes.

Lawson and Spike brought back drinks for everyone. Erica sipped her Scotch and Coke and watched with only a little interest when Lawson sat next to Cordelia and took her hand in his. She'd known there was something between the two already; they'd been out on a couple of dinner and movie dates. She was glad; Lawson was a very nice guy and a good friend to her by now.

She'd already noticed the stiffness between Oz and Spike, so Oz had been sat between she and Cordelia, and Spike was on Erica's other side, next to Lawson around the circular table. Erica cleared her throat. "So, you said you were in a band during high school?" she asked Oz.

"Yeah, Dingoes Ate my Baby. I was lead guitar player, but they got someone else to fill in for me when I, uh, had to sort out some personal stuff."

"You still play?" Erica asked.

Oz nodded. "Just in private now. I don't know, I'm thinking about maybe auditioning for one of the local bands, if there are any good ones."

"You should," Cordelia said, and then added to the others: "He's really good." Oz smiled.

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	24. Interruptions and resolutions

24: Interrupting the good times

"Dinner was really nice," Buffy said, as she walked by Angel's side in the park, holding his hand. "I wish I could get away to see you more often."

"You've got important work to do." Angel replied. "You've got the new slayers to watch out for and demons to slay."

"Yeah," Buffy said, "but you'd think after shutting down a Hellmouth and with you guys cutting through thousands of soldiers from that law firm that we wouldn't be seeing as many demons any more. I mean, we have dozens of slayers fighting for us, so we should have thinned out the demon ranks by now."

"New demons are made every day," Angel said. "And some have just been dormant up until now. Every apocalypse we face seems to wake more of them up."

"Ugh," Buffy groaned. "We should be rewarded for saving the world, not punished."

"I was rewarded," Angel reminded her. "And we're still alive, still able to fight our battles. It's got something to do with keeping the world in balance. If we didn't have the darkness, we wouldn't appreciate the light, and would never realise just how bright and beautiful it can be. I've lived lifetimes in the darkness, so trust me, I know. We _can _push it back, but I don't think we're ever going to get rid of it completely."

"So we're always going to have to deal with creepies like those guys?" Buffy asked, gesturing in the direction of a couple of vampires who were stalking through the trees ahead.

"It's what we do." Angel said.

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"By the way, Spike," Erica asked. "What are the rules in here?"

"Uh," Spike glanced back at the barman who was kind of purplish and literally had eyes in the back of his head. "No live feeding on the premises, and uh, take the fights outside. That's about it I think."

"Oh, damn," Erica said in a bored tone, "I was hoping to start a fight." The others looked at her. "I'm serious! Cordy, do you recognise that guy over there by the pool table with those vampires, the one in the green shirt?" She tilted her head in his direction.

Cordelia looked, and the others did too. "That guy was looking over at you before," Lawson said.

"He does look familiar," Cordelia said, "Where have we seen him?"

"He drove away before the torture started," Erica explained, and Cordelia stiffened as she recognised him.

The two vampires got a hard look in their eyes. Erica put a hand on Spike's arm. "Leave it," she said, feeling him twitch, wanting to get up. "Why don't we see what he's here for?" she suggested. "Eve said that she had vampire allies, maybe those are them," she said.

"When did she say that?" Cordelia asked.

"She whispered it to me when you got crucified, right before they started beating me up." Erica said, and Oz's eyes got wider. "She said they were going to turn me before I drowned so that I'd burn beneath that iron cross and you guys would have to chop my head off." She seemed vaguely annoyed.

"I really don't like the sound of this Eve," Oz said.

"She used to work for me and Angel," Spike explained, "but she was really on a guy named Lindsey's side. She came after the girls because we got Lindsey killed. She wanted to punish us for it by hurting Erica and Cordelia."

"Unbelievable." Erica said. "So _he_ was the guy that she gave up her immortality for." She sighed. "And she's still out there."

"Don't you worry about that," Spike said, glancing from the driver back to her face. "If she shows herself again we're going to take care of it for good."

"Well don't leave me out of it." Erica said. "She's not the only one who'd like to get revenge."

"Rika," Cordelia said, "you're getting scary."

"Good." Erica said shortly, running her fingers over her scar, underneath her hair. She wasn't looking at anyone in particular, just a blank spot on the table. "I'm going to go for a walk." She said, looking up. "Why don't you see if driver guy and his vamp buddies take any notice."

"If they follow you out of the bar we can fight them." Spike said.

"Exactly," Erica said, getting to her feet and grabbing her coat.

"I'll go with you," Oz said, getting up as well.

"Fine," Erica said, pulling on her coat and flicking her hair out of the collar. "We'll head around the corner, toward the car. If they don't take any notice then we'll come back." She and Oz walked away.

Cordelia looked troubled. "Don't worry," Lawson said, and squeezed her hand.

"I just hope Rika's not going all hard-core." Cordelia said.

"She almost died," Spike said, glancing back to see that the vampires and the driver were packing up their game. "They made her feel all helpless, and she's got a mark to look at every day to remind her that she couldn't do a thing to stop them. She's had all this time to stay pretty-much helpless while her leg healed up. Tonight is the first chance she's had to do something since she got hurt. I'm sure she'll brighten up a bit once she gets to hit someone; once she proves to herself that she's not powerless, and that she's not just a victim." He took a drink.

"Since when are you all insightful?" Cordelia asked, as the party they were watching went out the front door. The three of them got up and got their coats.

Spike grinned. "It's just who I am, princess. Besides, when you've been around as long as I have you learn to pay attention."

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Erica and Oz waited around the corner. Erica had her cross out over her top, a stake in one hand and a bottle of Holy water in her other hand –they had been hidden away in her coat pocket. She gave the bottle to Oz, who took the lid off and took a few steps back. When they came around the corner, he let the contents of the bottle fly at them, scalding the vampire's faces. There were four of the Undead, as well as the human driver. Erica staked one of them as he clutched at his face.

The other one at the front of the group swung blindly out at her. She ducked him as Lawson and Spike caught up and she was able to kick him and stake him as they dealt with the other two vampires. She threw the stake to Spike and she and Oz ran after the driver who was trying to get away.

She jumped forward and kicked him in the back of the knee, making him stumble to the pavement. Oz pulled him to his feet. The driver yanked his arm free and had his foot raised to run for it when Erica gave him a left jab and a right hook to the face. She kicked him in the stomach and kneed him in the face when he stooped over. She pushed him back into the wall behind him.

She shook her hand out and stepped back to let Lawson and Spike take over. She'd hit him full force and her knuckles were a little sore from it. She'd done well, though, because his nose had started bleeding. Lawson grabbed the back of the guy's shirt and Spike stood in front of him. Cordelia caught up to them and stood with Oz.

"Where's Eve?" Spike asked.

The driver didn't answer. Spike gave Lawson a meaningful look and gripped the man's shirt. He tugged him forward out of Lawson's hold and pushed him back toward Erica to give her something to hit. The driver tried to push past her to run away and she grabbed his arms. The move she used lasted only seconds. One of her arms pushed his up as she half-turned, pushing her hip up and just below his waist, with her legs bent. She pulled his other arm down and used her top arm and their momentum to throw him over her hip.

He landed on his back and groaned. He rolled over and Erica circled him as he got up. "Where is she?" she asked. He tried to punch her and she parried it by hitting his arm down with her left wrist. She snaked her arm over the top of his and back under his elbow, then when she bent her arm he was forced to do the same. His arm was caught in hers as she gripped his shoulder to hold the arm-lock in place. He had ended up being half-turned away from her with the right side of her body free to attack his front.

She used her left leg to kick the back of his knee and force him down lower – he was taller than her. Then she hooked her right arm around his neck, turning him so that his front faced away from her, and moved forward so she could grip her own shoulder, holding his head in place against her arm, and his arm was trapped between them. He was so off balance that if she let go too suddenly he would fall over. His other arm was free, but he couldn't reach her with it. She was in complete control.

She could squeeze her right arm against his throat if she wanted to make him pass out, or she could lift her left elbow, which was below his wrist, to put pressure on his shoulder and cause him pain. Whatever she decided to do he was caught against her. She lifted her elbow and asked again: "Where is Eve?"

She almost dislocated his arm, but he gave them an address. She made him pass out and dropped him to the pavement. She looked up at the two vampires and said: "You're not going without me. The crossbow's in the trunk of the car and so is one of the hand-axes."

"Cordelia?" Lawson asked.

Cordelia shook her head. "I'd rather let you guys handle it. I'll either wait in the car or you can drop me and Oz off at the apartment first." She glanced at Erica and gave Lawson a look that said, 'don't let her get out of hand'.

888

Eve was hardly staying in a fortress, nor was she that well connected. Practically all of the mercenaries had been locked up, and since she'd been cut off from Wolfram and Hart she no longer had any demon contacts. Aside from the vampires. Her allies had already been dealt with. Her apartment was easy to break into, and the vampires didn't even need to be invited inside.

She tried to run away from Spike and Erica at the front door and stumbled straight into Lawson, who had come in from a side window.

"You can't kill me!" Eve said in a panic as he grabbed her arms.

"Why not?" Spike asked, as Erica followed him in, pointing the crossbow at Eve's chest.

"I'm human!" Eve cried out as Lawson pushed her into a chair. "What are you going to do with me?"

"I've got an idea," Erica said, putting the crossbow down – there were no demons to shoot - on the couch and rummaging through her purse. She put a little hand mirror down on the table in front of Eve. She went into the kitchen and filled up a plastic bowl with water. Some of the fear left Eve's face and she became confused. The vampires weren't exactly sure what she was doing either.

She put the bowl on the table next to Eve and dropped the hand mirror into the bowl so that the reflective surface faced down, and she sat down at the next edge of the table.

"What are you doing?" Eve said.

"Shut up, and you'll get what you want," Erica said, staring into the water for a few moments. She was concentrating, so Spike put his hand over Eve's mouth to keep her from interrupting.

Silently, Erica reached into the water and turned the mirror over so that they could see its surface. They saw a bed, and in it, Lindsey McDonald was lying sprawled beneath the covers in the half-darkness. From the waist down he was covered by a blue sheet, and light was coming in from another room out of sight.

"Mff, Mmm, Muh," Eve said through Spike's hand.

"Let her go," Erica said, watching her closely.

"Oh, my God," Eve said, reaching out to touch the water. "How did you do that?"

Erica gave her a hard, dangerous look. "You don't even know who I am, do you?" she asked in an icy tone. Eve glanced back at her. "I was just a victim to you, wasn't I? All you cared about was getting back at Angel."

Eve opened her mouth but didn't say anything. Erica stood up and looked sternly down at Eve. "I am the Guardian of all realms, of all dimensions, and all the bridges between them." Her voice and expression were commanding, empowered, as though her future self was standing in her place. "Lindsey happens to be in one of those dimensions. Unless it is my will, you'll never see him again."

They saw the image in the mirror move, as Lindsey stirred and sat up, looking around the room in confusion. Erica pushed her hand through the water and the image disappeared. She pulled out the mirror, gave it a little shake and wiped it dry on a dishcloth. She put the mirror back in her handbag and gave Eve a hard glare. "Now you give me one good reason why I should let you see him after what you did?" Erica asked.

Eve looked up with her mouth gaping, "Because I have nothing else." She said finally.

Erica nodded and took the bowl. She put it down on the ground and knelt in front of it. Before their eyes she created a portal. Unlike the last few that she'd made, this one didn't re-open within the same room. She stood up and gestured inside the whirling mass of bright colour.

"This is a bridge to the dimension I showed you. How badly do you want to see him?" she asked.

"Badly," Eve replied, looking at the portal.

"Then step through and find him," Erica said.

888

"I can't believe you let her go to him," Lawson said, as he, Spike and Erica sat alone in the apartment.

"Actually I'm not that nice, even though I kept my word and let her see him." Erica said. "The Lindsey she knows is dead. This one might be just as likely to throw her out on her ass as take her in. The worst non-violent punishment I could give her is to put her within arm's reach of the man she wants but who doesn't love her. She's stuck there now, until I bring her back, and she can't cause us any more trouble."

"Then it was a good idea," Lawson said. He stood up and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm proud of you for not trying to kill her, even when you had every reason to do it." He walked out to go back down to the car, where Cordelia and Oz were waiting.

Erica sat quietly for a moment, turning the mirror in her hands. "Are you going to check up on her?" Spike asked.

"Maybe," Erica answered. "I don't know. The whole point of putting her there was to get her out of the way so I don't have to think about her. Thinking about her and what she did… I don't want to become as cold as she was. She was all vengeful and… empty. I don't want to be like that."

"You'll be all right, pet." Spike said, standing up. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask, are those two serious?" he gestured in the direction Lawson had taken.

"Yeah," Erica said with a smile, accepting the distraction. "I think they are. He's a great guy, and he makes her happy."

"What about you?" Spike asked, "What will it take to cheer you up?"

Erica raised her eyebrows. "You already cheer me up, Spike. Thank you, by the way, for taking us out tonight; I appreciate it." She stepped up to him and gave him a 'thank you' kiss on the cheek.

Spike caught her face in his hand and kissed her on the mouth. Other than the hand on her face he didn't hold her, but she didn't move away. She stepped in to him and put one hand on his shoulder, and used the other hand to place his arm around her waist. The kiss was nearly gentle, and when it ended she leaned her head in against his throat. "How long have you been waiting to do that?" she asked.

"Since I…." He couldn't say that he'd wanted to since he saw her fight off a horde of demons and had shared Life with him to make him more human. "Since you threw a vase at Angel's head."

Erica chuckled softly at the memory and gave him another kiss.

"Come on," Spike said, releasing her slowly. "We'd better go before they wonder what we're up to."

888

**AN: Erica is not being disrespectful to Lindsey by being with Spike; she just knows that she can't have him and wants to get over him. She hasn't admitted it to herself yet, but she has forgiven him – that's what she dreamt about. **


End file.
